Azati Prime/Damage (as others have mentioned) easily matches and actually surpasses BoBW in the "compelling" department
AP/Damage are compelling, no doubt. They are some of my favorite Trek episodes of all time but personally they don't come close to BoBW.
BoBW is rightfully hailed as one of the best of Trek and I certainly wouldn’t dispute that. BoBW was like a religious experience for those that watched it that first time in 1990.
Michael Piller conceived a perfect episode including all the elements any fan would want out of a doomsday event. The AP cliffhanger while great can't beat the shock of Locutus and Riker ordering Worf to fire. We pretty much knew how AP would play out with the Xindi halting their attack. What impresses me is the fact Michael Piller wrote Part II months later with very little idea how he was going to wrap up Part I yet you couldn’t tell that.
The BoBW score was fantastic. The character drama was riveting. And to compare the crew's reaction to the loss of their respective captains you see how much more impressive BoBW was. Shelby’s initial look of horror or Worf’s “He is a Borg” or Beverly thinking of recovering him to Wesley holding his head down. Picard's assimilation had the weight of a loss of a national leader or head of the family. We all knew Archer would be saved because he is critical to the Federation and Daniels wouldn't allow him to die. He would have just whisked him away as we saw he did in Zero Hour. And you knew Daniels would never allow the weapon to destroy Earth. If it came down to it he would have sent a squad of temporal agents to stop the weapon. Not so with the Borg situation.
Archer's scene with Phlox before going on the mission doesn't compare to the riveting discussion between Picard and Guinan with all of their historical allusions and frank pragmatic assessment of the situation. And Trip's trying to get T'Pol to snap out of her funk is nowhere near as good as Guinan and Riker's conversation in Part II.
And while I loved the Xindi they can't compare to the Borg who are a far more compelling and interesting adversary. We were used to seeing adversaries who had a hierarchy, leaders, governments to negotiate with; individuals with understandable motives. But now the Federation was facing a force of nature devoid of any malice directed at their victims and without any sense of morality. The two-parter also really touched on a lot of things that were unnerving including the idea of a fate worse than death and to be denied death. Really Trek had never been so fatalistic.
And the way BoBW continuously topped itself. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse it did. Borg entering Federation space, Starfleet hadn't developed new technology to combat the Borg, Picard is kidnapped,
the Borg are now on a direct course to Sector 0-0-1—Earth, Picard is then assimilated, now the Collective knows of the crew's tactics culminating with the arrival of the Enterprise at Wolf 359 where we see the graveyard of ships. Nothing comes close to the dramatic impact of this scene until years later with DS9 and the Dominion War. Shelby begins naming off the destroyed ships and the crew takes a moment to absorb this and think of the lives lost in a solemn sobering moment mentioning the
Melbourne as being one of the ships destroyed. That carries an extra tragic irony since it was the ship Riker was offered in Part I. It was those kinds of touches that just make BoBW just that much better.
ENT had higher quality CGI visuals. But both had powerfully effective images that were as effective as any dialog. The ominous sight of the Xindi weapon in its cradle. The dreaded moment of visual contact between the Borg and the Enterprise with the sight of the Borg vessel barely visible soon filling the screen revealing the chilling sight of the cube in all its intimidating glory. Wow, what a powerfully effecting image. At that moment it conveyed to me perfectly the sensation one would experience confronting evil incarnate. The presentation of Picard’s reveal of having been assimilated was highly effective providing the most impact with the profile before turning to show half of his face and head were implanted with technology as the laser attachment filled the screen.
While I'm one of the few who actually loved T'Pol's struggle with emotionas and trellium in AP/Damage it could never come close to the wringer Picard went through. Much like in “Chain of Command”, his trauma was wrenching as his humanity is systematically stripped from him piece by piece all the while he remains helpess. Then to be complicit in the destruction of a fleet of ships and 11000 lives. Whoa that is heavy stuff. Picard can only shed a single tear that falls from his cheek. This scene is so powerful because it doesn’t use graphic violence or conventional torture. Now compare that to the silliness of Archer's insults and beating in AP. It comes across as cartoonish and drains a lot of AP's drama and gravity it generated.
For all Archer knows the Weapon is on its way to Earth and he trades insults.
Both had great battle sequences. And while TNG didn't have CGI I thought the choreographed assault on the cube with the Enterprise separating off into the saucer and drive sections unleashing the anti-matter spread was quite a stunning sight to behold.
And there were just so many more wonderful scenes that outnumbered AP/Damage. Locutus’ exchange with Worf in sickbay was excellent giving insight into the Borg mindset, Admiral Hanson recalling how he met Picard, the Shelby/Riker conflict, Riker having to make the call that would kill his friend and captain etc.
Picard had to live with all the deaths he felt responsible for while Archer had to live with stranding a ship where for all we know they survived or help came.
The Best of Both Worlds was compelling drama through and through whereas as much as I loved AP/Damage they did stray in a few instances into cartoonishness.
while "The Forge" and the rest of the V trilogy and several others, follow closely.
ENT's "compellingness" will allow the series to maintain it's "shelf life" longer and better than any of the spinoffs save DS9.
True ENT did do more epic storylines in its last two seasons while TNG chose to be more low-key but I see nothing wrong with being low-key. One isn't necessarily better than the other.
