"The Best of Both Worlds" is the 26th episode of the third season and the first episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It comprises the 74th and 75th episodes of the series overall. The first part was originally aired on June 18, 1990,

In April 2013, "The Best of Both Worlds" was re-released edited together as a single feature film, released on Blu-ray disc and shown as a one-night only event in movie theaters. The producers also wanted a cliffhanger because of contract problems with various actors and uncertainty over who would return.

Makeup and props

Makeup supervisor Michael Westmore said it took many makeup artists and a lot of time to create the Borg. At that time the process took at least three hours to apply the makeup and costumes. They had it organized into a production line to make it as fast as possible. He found that results were inconsistent as each makeup artist used different techniques to shade the faces. This laborious process prompted Westmore to take an airbrush course, allowing for more consistent results and after that he insisted that any makeup artist hired knew how to use an airbrush. Jones composed similar cliffhanger music for the 100th episode of Family Guy, "Stewie Kills Lois" as Seth MacFarlane and David A. Goodman had wanted to use the actual music, but couldn't get the rights from Paramount.

The album was re-released in 2013 as a two-part, extended edition by GNP Crescendo Records [GNPD 8083], to include previously unreleased material by Jones.

Broadcast and release

Part I was originally broadcast on syndicated television starting on June 18, 1990,

On October 3, 1995 "Best of Both Worlds, Part I" and "Transfigurations" were released on LaserDisc in the United States. On February 27, 1996 "Best of Both Worlds, Part II" and "Suddenly Human" were released on LaserDisc in the USA. In June 1996, both parts of "Best of Both Worlds" were released in the United Kingdom on a PAL-format LaserDisc, with a Dolby Surround audio track. Both parts were released on a PAL-format LaserDisc in Germany also, cover title "Angriffsziel Erde" with a German language dubbed audio track.

"Part I" of the episode was released with Star Trek: The Next Generation season three DVD box set, released in the United States on July 2, 2002. "Part II" was later released in the United States on September 3, 2002, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season four DVD box set. Both sets have a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track for "Best of Both Worlds". In this version, the short summary of Part I at the start of Part II is removed and there is no second opening credits montage. The 90-minute single also has some special features and audio commentary available for the episode.

Reception

The first episode won Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Art Direction for a Series" and

"Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series".

The storyline appeared in TV Guide "100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History" (July 1, 1996), ranked number 50. The episode was also ranked #70 on "The 100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time". Part I was ranked eighth on the top ten Star Trek episodes for the magazine's celebration of the franchise's 30th anniversary.

In 2012, Keith R.A. DeCandido of Tor.com rewatched the episodes. He rated the first part ten out of ten, and the second part six out of ten.

This episode has continued to be widely praised. It was listed as the best in the series by Empire in 2008. In 2016, The Washington Post ranked it the best episode of all Star Trek and said it had the greatest cliffhanger in television history. Riker's line "Mr. Worf: Fire" was described by TheWrap as one of the greatest cliffhangers in television history. The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 ranked "The Best of Both Worlds" as the second-greatest episode across all Star Trek series. In 2009, the episode was ranked #36 on TV Guides list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".

Lt. Commander Shelby as a character has also been praised. In 2017, Den of Geek ranked Elizabeth Dennehy's role in "The Best of Both Worlds" (Parts I and II) as one of the top ten guest roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation. They remark that Elizabeth Dennehy does a great job of holding her own with the rest of the cast and portraying a capable officer. In 2016, Wired ranked her as the 56th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe including both films and television series.

In 2017, Netflix announced that both parts of "The Best of Both Worlds" were in the four Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes