This 1990 two-parter rewrote the books of Star Trek history as it proved that the struggling new show could be just as formidable as the original series, if not much more so. You might remember Best Of Both Worlds as the cliffhanging two-parter in which Captain Picard is abducted and transformed by the Borg, but one of the things I remembered these two shows for the most was the music, which is quite unusual for the producer-mandated subdued scoring that usually drenches the show. Ron Jones graced the epic story with music that recalls John Williams’ Star Wars soundtrack, with added twists in the form of the haunting choral interludes for the Borg and a very heavy, doom-laden treatment for the second part. Best tracks include “First Attack”, “Captain Borg” (that’s the cliffhanger from part one with that world-ending “bam bam bam!” to-be-continued, end-of-the-world climax), “Intervention” and “The Link”. Despite the fact that it was eagerly received by the fans and in music 
stores, it was a few years before Star Trek’s top brass allowed their composers to get this brassy again. Ron Jones himself left the show a year later, around the time of this album’s release, sick of the extensive strictures placed on the show’s music, and who can blame him? All the same, I’ve always wondered what miracles Jones could have worked on the episodes that followed his departure, to say nothing of Deep Space Nine.
The Best of Both Worlds Part I by Ron Jones
- Star Trek – The Next Generation main title (1:40)
- New Providence (1:19)
- Hansen’s Message (1:28)
- Borg Engaged (1:16)
- First Attack (4:56)
- Borg Take Picard (3:03)
- Death Is Irrelevant (1:35)
- Away Team Ready (1:15)
- On the Borg Ship* (1:27)
- Nodes (2:55)
- Captain Borg (3:51)
The Best of Both Worlds Part II by Ron Jones
- Energy Weapon Fails (3:52)
- Humanity Taken (0:56)
- Contact Lost (0:34)
- Cemetery of Dead Ships (1:45)
- Intervention (4:21)
- The Link (2:58)
- Sleep Command (3:52)
- Destruct Mode / Picard is Back (1:36)
- Picard’s Nightmare (1:00)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation end credit (1:02)
* music not used in broadcast version of show.
Released by: GNP Crescendo
Release date: 1991
Total running time: 46:41
