Riker is an outstanding First Officer!

It's also the face of any Dad... studying the garden after they've cut the grass.

CAPTAIN Riker has never lost ;)

This showed us that he was destined to command a starship.

To me, not so much smugness, but confidence. Both in his plan and confidence in his crew to carry out that plan.

While true, he does get slapped about a lot by many a weaker opponent during the show 🤣

@@idontwannaidontwanna7307 Which is why I think it's refreshing to see Worf holding out against Locutus for so long before Data stuns him.

So do I!

Not the only one - it's a habit that shows up some very strange time dilation effects😄👍

Look at Worf's face when the three seconds elapse and they leave the Enterprise. I swear he smiles a little bit doesn't he? XD

@@Vespyr_ He does seem suddenly pleased to be passed a wall he can't see. Good style acting and good catch.

You and me both, mate

These are the remastered effects, the original ship scenes are a lot lower fidelity and don't show that.

@@rebmcr they showed it originally as well, I watched this as a kid back in the day

@@rebmcr The "remastered effects" are primarily touch ups. They're probably the most faithful remasters ever done for a show like this.

Cool that you noticed that. Thanks for pointing it out. This episode was sharp on the details.

Appropriate that is the name of the first ship he serves as permanent captain.

ZOMFG! Did you see it?! Did you see what he did there?! Huh?! Did you?!

"Just remember, captain Riker never lost." - acting captain commander Riker.

Probably not, they would've already uploaded all his knowledge already or at least what they thought was important.

I suspect they knew. They just didn't know what the Federation could gleen from Locutus. Better to lose a high value commodity than risk it being a liability.

It is cause it doesnt matter . They sucked all the data out of picard anyway. So he really was expendable at that point

ut's nicely done but I think the star drive section comes into view a little too quickly

Data does make it easy for sure.

Definitely one of the best Riker episodes. Also, low-key, Worf. Right after the Borg destroy a huge fraction of the federation fleet (plus some allies like the Klingons), Worf and Data go on a two-man combat mission into the cube itself. I'm trying to fathom any Klingon bragging of his accomplishments and having a counter if Worf mentions _that._

Riker was so bad ass in this episode!!!

Wesley: "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood."

People that hate wesley are the same ones who yell at there more successful kids you think your better then me

@@matthewjones2095 *you think you're. And also *their, not "there own kids"....ALSO also it's *than, not "better then". Sorry I don't usually do these but you're giving me mini convulsions of the eyebrows trying to read this XD

@@mistermonologue2442 its ok mr grammar police

@@matthewjones2095 Just trying to help :)

Grant was never smug though.

They are. These are pretty much personal transporters but no where near as powerful as ones we see in discovery and can only really go back and forth to a shuttle or runabout

Those transporter armbands can generate an annular confinement beam, the force field that transporters use to keep things that aren't supposed to be beamed with you out. An episode of Enterprise showed a guy who beamed up in a windstorm before Annular Confinement Beams were standard rematerializing with leaves embedded in his skin. In Timescape the frozen in time episode, they modified the annular confinement force field to isolate them from the frozen timescape so they wouldn't be affected.

Also Riker outwits not just the Borg but Picard, too.

I also like the Riker Maneuver in Star Trek: Insurrection

I wonder if Jellico agreed this was Riker's finest hour.

In my headcanon, I like to think that Picard was fighting with all he had, trying any type of mental trick or form of resistance deep down to slow or avoid the Enterprise being destroyed. I also like to think that they were taking awhile to adapt to Riker's bizarre methods. Riker seemed to have a strategy: The Borg, like a computer system, would sometimes take time to analyze all the possibilities of a new strategy. With no human intuition or ability to understand/relate to why a strategy is or it's focus, they instead have to take into account every single possibility, then assess the most likely based on the situation. And with millions of species already assimilated, that's a LOT of different strategies, histories, thought processes and so forth. Don't look at it from a human brain thought of "Oh, okay, they're going to rescue Picard, it's a simple diversion nothing more, let's just look out a window at the shuttle craft miles away in the vastness of space in the middle of an anti-matter spread that I can easily see from Hollywood's camera view to allow the viewer to see what's going on" type fashion. Look at it from the idea that the Borg are zombies. They have a dead brain that functions in a bizarre way without a SHRED of individuality or conscious thought. Locutus is an exception but he's not got full individuality. Only what is needed to guide them against Starfleet. Even with the Borg's advanced technology and excessive speed of adapting, MILLIONS of worlds, cultures, histories and strategies is a LOT to access. I like to think that when Locutus lead the Borg against Starfleet, they were all using text-book strategies and manuevers, perfectly like some of the best Starfleet Captains... all that Picard understood and could identify and counter instantly. Riker threw out some bizarre crap that left Locutus and the Borg confounded, trying to figure out "why the BLAZES did he separate the saucer section for no reason, WHAT was up with this antimatter spread, WHY would a shuttle bay open in the middle of a space fight....?" and Riker was counting on that. It would take the Borg TIME to figure all of this out. And while the Borg did have superior technology, theirs was still DIFFERENT. Like all things, it had limits, styles, methods that can be figured out. Riker used this to his advantage to plan rescuing Picard. Riker had a theory: Locutus was partial individuality. Therefore, it would aid them in attacking Starfleet and having the ability to understand everything a normal person would do. But it would also work the OTHER way around. They could use Locutus to figure out more about the Borg and from that, possibly identify a weakness, a strategy, SOMETHING that would help them stop the Borg. Here... and in the future. I like to think that Riker knew that even if they stop the Borg cube here, the Borg could simply send more cubes or one better equipped and with nothing but the shattered remains of a fleet to defend them, the Federation would be easy pickings. Riker wanted to find a way to stop the Borg for good. You could argue Riker's strategy was only a partial success... maybe mostly. He rescued Picard entirely, which I think Riker WANTED... but was willing to accept it might not be possible. He defeated the Borg Cube and protected the Earth. He even managed to make sure the Enterprise survived. But they failed to learn anything specific about the Borg to help them. I'm sure Picard gave as much information as he could remember, but not nearly enough to protect them. As we recall, the next Borg cube in First Contact was still managing to fight it's way through the fleet. Although it was revealed later they knew one Cube could not effectively destroy the Federation and the ships had improved their abilities with a new swarm strategy to counter their ability to adapt, the Federation STILL took a massive beating, with countless lives lost and numerous ships destroyed from A SINGLE SHIP. Riker's theory helped, but it did NOT bring what he thought he would get. This is all headcannon. But it makes me make sense of things better.

@@azraelknightquest5754 That's a good analysis. I will point out, however, that at this point in canon the Borg had not been assimilating other species. Sure, it was retconned later, but with Q Who and BOBW it was stated that Borg only cared about getting technology. Assimilating humans was a new strategy, I always assumed the Borg attempted this because they didn't know it was Q who blasted the Enterprise thousands of light years away from their assault. They decided humans must be awesome and decided to best adapt by actually adding another species to their collective. I know they retconned this, but I think we should look at the episode as it was at its time.

Well like in the episode ‘peak performance’ Riker knows his best shot at getting one-up over Picard is to do something audacious. Picard (and therefore Locutus) knows Riker will be trying something audacious as was probably holding back in a ‘ok…what’s his game?’ manner

@@taopilot2669 I believe the retcon was only to the extent that while they did assimilate other species, they only did so if that species had something to offer them. Basically, if a species had technology the Borg did not have, and was deemed useful, their technology was assimilated. If a species had biological traits the Borg felt were useful, their species was assimilated. Any species or technology not meeting this criteria was either ignored or destroyed, depending on it's threat level. In the case of the Federation, it's as you said, they were primarily trying to figure out how the Federation had traveled so far so quickly. All the information they gathered from their initial encounter had not answered this question. Once Picard was assimiliated, they likely found their answer, but they likely came to another conclusion: If Q is interested in this species, than they must have value, therefore they will be assimilated. The fact that the Federation beat them in The Best of Both Worlds just further drove the Borg's new obsession with what was before a minor confederation of species at the outer edges of Borg awareness.

@@darthimperious1594 Honestly I'm amazed the Borg never went Q hunting after assimilating Picard. I mean...for a species such as the Borg, you would think that knowledge of a being like Q would have them scrambling to get one of their own by any and all means necessary until they got it done. It would make for a possible good future movie....to say a Borg cube from back then was sent to find/assimilate Q, and in doing so found the continuum.

I feel like they should have used the Battle Bridge in "Brothers" rather than Engineering as the backup control center once they realized that Data took control of the ship. Heck, they could have done a one episode per season mandate where they could have either the Saucer section or the Stardrive section be the main focus of the episode's story, One section of the ship could be off doing something in another part of the star system of the week while the needed characters are on the other section and by the end of the episode they can at least show the ship going through the reintegration process.

Moar like "picking up the rectal flatulation," amirite?

Data quick pull a finger.

"Gas. Gas Captain. Under impulse power she expends fuel like any other vessel, we call it plasma, but whatever the Klingon designation is, it is merely ionized gas."

The Borg are relentless

hah I don't make ad money pal, CBS does... Thanks though, glad I could help you :)

Probably because they wanted to showcase the Borg’s strength by having a big Klingon warrior trying to overpower it. Also probably because they wanted to save the part towards the end where Date is accessing the final neural interface with Locutus and Locutus goes crazy trying to get out of there and Data slowly forces his Locutus’ arm towards himself showing that Data is capable of overpowering a Borg

Who knows what species that creature was, or how the Borg had modified it. For all we know, the lower right abdomen was a critical spot.

Data has perfect aim, but recall he's basically trying to aim a Dustbuster at a moving target at range. He's lucky to hit anything at all.

@@pyrioncelendil hmmm it’s the 23rd century with a positronic brain. Those Borg aren’t exactly jukin’ and jivin’… they’re walking pretty slow. Data can perform millions of calculations a second… I’m sure he can aim better than that

Simple exposition for us at home, so we can understand the action and the plan.

Those Type-7 ones were kinda ugly anyway, the nacelle were OK as an homage to the Galaxy-Class nacelles but overall I preferred the Type-6 ones.

True, Spock remained captain after Kirk's demotion in ST4.

I never understood this either

maybe it was acting captain position until borg invasion was over idk

Given that Riker doesn't get offered a promotion again afterward for a long time, my headcanon is that Command used the promotion to Captain as a way of getting Riker used to being one, on the presumption that even if he manages to rescue Picard, he might not want to give up the position, so they could finally get him to accept captaincy of his own ship (or even let him keep Enterprise and reassign Picard, as by now Command will be having reservations with Picard out of fear that he's been compromised by his time with the Borg). And then he turns it down, gets demoted for the trouble, and they don't bother offering him another. Presumably, the Ent-E getting drydocked with a major overhaul looming after it gets half its saucer ripped off from ramming the Scimitar, the consequent downtime incurred, and having tied the knot with Deanna, is finally what gets Riker to accept the promotion and reassignment. Maybe even with the threat of "take the promotion or retire."

Riker was demoted by choice. In Riker's eyes, Picard is THE Captain of the Enterprise. Riker holds HIMSELF back. Timing I guess. He gets command of the Titan at the end of Insurrection and after his and Troi's wedding. Riker had to almost be forced to take command or be dropped from the command program. They don't hold the Captain's chair out forever. Like Picard said in "The Best of Both Worlds", there are younger ones coming up the ranks.

Never seen Hellraiser... this what you mean: external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comingsoon.net%2Fassets%2Fstyd%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2Fceno5.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 ? :)

@@tjwparso yeah, and the fact that they're all built uniquely with different implants just like there are different looking cenobites.

@@tjwparso Never thought about that but you're right 👍😁😁😁

The Borg are a horror movie by any standard.

probably because of the symbolism surrounding the black cubes of saturn/satan 📐🕋💀🧙‍♂🔮👌👁👁

It was always small hehe.

That all may have been planned even data saying that as the fear was the borg were listening in.. riker wanted it to look slightly unplanned

Maybe not so much a command structure, more like directional propulsion. Despite having a generalised design certain elements make sense being directional… you wouldn’t have engines of equal force on opposite sides when it would only require a quick rotation to face the desired directional of travel

Maybe it was for drama. They took the time to rotate like it had nothing to fear from the Enterprise.

@@magunbfp9030 Directional propulsion makes the most sense: while the Borg do make a case for redundancy up the wazoo, there's probably a warp field configuration that's the most efficient and so if that one is available they'd prefer to use it as often as possible.

Saw another clip from earlier in the same episode that probably explains it. Worf was telling Riker about a plan engineering had come up with to install a chip into their phasers to randomize their frequency after every shot, specifically to stay ahead of the Borg adapting their shields.

@@backgroundnpc9631 And yet it still only stymies the Borg for a short time, suggesting that rather than actual random number generation, they were using a pseudorandom number generator, meaning it's still ultimately determinative, and the Borg figured it out.

I'm pretty sure they used the maximum setting. With Borg you have very limited amount of successful hits, so you got to make them count. Although... The max setting completely vaporizes the target, so I might be wrong :)

@@DragDenDFO Kill and vaporize are different settings and the more power you use the less shots you get, also a phaser set to high might blow something up.

The Borg Queen.

Well. It is the collective minds of millions of individuals. Could you imagine a hive mind of millions of random people all over the earth?

@@jonathansotelo4877 That, and they tend to be able to just brute-force everyone. So thinking creatively isn't really something they have to do much, as evidenced by the fact they nabbed Picard specifically BECAUSE Starfleet had shown to be able to outsmart them. Course, if you take STO as canon, about 60 years later, the Federation'd managed to significantly close that gap (Thanks in part, but not limited to Voyager's upgrades and years of experience against the Borg). A Cube is still a significant threat, but can still easily gets its ass handed to it by a prepared and properly fitted ship, or a small squadron (also helps that thanks to the Anti-Borg task Force and the Dominion War, the Federation has a lot of dedicated Warship classes). Course, the Borg just counter that by bringing in reinforcements now.