OT - Question for Star Trek geeks
 

I was never into TNG or DSN but do like the movies and Voyager.

Anyway, I'm not very familiar with the Borg other than they're bad and they assimilate. On one run in with Q, Janeway remarks that the Federation has Q to thank for introducing them to the Borg. ??? Obviously this is back story to something I've never seen.

- When and why did he introduce them to the Borg?
- What was the outcome?
- Where/how did they originate? Do they travel around in that square box or do they have a home base? Is their society totally based on the Queen/drone setup?

I'm don't remember the EXACT reason why, but Q sent the USS Enterprise (TNG) into Borg territory at one point. I think to scare the crap out of them for whatever reason. During this episode, they encounter the Borg, and get the butts kicked, and Q sends them back to Federation space.

Because of the encounter, I think the Borg learned of the humans, klingons, etc. etc. and started making their way there. And a season or two later, the Borg send a ship to Earth to assimilate it.

As for their society, yes, it's dependant on a hive-like structure. When one of them gets "sick", he can quickly "infect" others, and he and the ones effected get cut off. Without being connected to the hive, it eventually dies because it basically doesn't know what to do.

I'm not sure of the origins for the Borg. Don't know how they came to be. It's been a long time since I watched TNG and didn't really watch Voyeger. So I'm rusty on some of my Star Trek knowledge.

Not that I'm a Star Trek geek, but I can answer those questions ;)

He was mad at Picard at one point (Star Trek: The Next Generation - the best series in my opinion) so Q who is part of a race of all powerful beings sent the Enterprise 100 light years or something like that past their furthest borders. The Borg are cybernetic beings and they encountered the Enterprise as a result, and began to assess the technology on that ship and decided it was worth assimilating. This turned their interest towards the federation and led to them setting course for the federation, presumably quickly than they might have otherwise.

The Enterprise would have been destroyed except Picard swallowed his pride and asked Q to take them back to their own space which he did.

As far as that last question, I'm not sure about where originated. However, they do have a home hive I believe. That big square box is one of their cube ships which are their biggest most powerful assimilating ships (or so I believe.) As far as the setup, the original series led us to believ ethey were totally society based with just one collective mind, however, the movies added the idea of a Queen/drone setup with Alice Kirge (sp?) playing the queen I think in First Contact.

I can add on to this one. Q wanted to join starfleet, but Picard basicly told Q that he wasn't welcome because Picard didn't believe that Q would be willing to start out as an ensign like everyone else. Q then told Picard that he would be valuable because the Federation wasn't ready for what they would face as they continued to explore. As an example he introduced the Enterprise to the Borg.

Actually the Borg can survive once seperated from the collective. There are several episodes where you see that once a borg is seperated they begin to regain thier individuality again, (one exapmle is 7 of 9) though it is a difficult process for them.

Hue

If you read the books then the origin of the Borg is hinted at being v'ger from the original Star Trek movie.

Actually isn't the orgin of the self aware v'ger the Borg? I know that Star Trek Voyager talks about the Borg's orgins being long before V'ger would have been launched. The best information about the Borg comes from Voyager.

Well, as I said, I didn't watch Voyeger (but did see many, many pictures of 7 of 9). :)

The only example (that I remember) of Borg surviving outside the Collective in TNG was Hue and his group when they got cut off. They basically said without the Collective, they would have died if it wasn't for Lore "saving" them.

That was one of Shatner's books... He didn't say the Borg originated from v'ger... just that v'ger was borg.

Then again, his books are kinda wacky. I think in one of them, he had Kirk resurrected by the Borg after "Generations," then rescued, then later traveling to the Borg homeworld and blowing up one of their big galactic antennaes or something. Weird.

Interesting. Thanks guys.

There's one episode in Voyager where some of the people on one of the Borg cubes run into problems and leave the ship for a near planet. Factions develop (not unlike SMAC) but one faction "the cooperative" uses their collectivity to reunite the races. So it seems they have the best of both worlds, the collective power of the Borg along with individuality.

I'll keep my ears open. I'm only on Season 3 but the remaining seasons will be released throughout the rest of the year.

Elaborating on that point, although I'm not a Star Trek geek either. ;)

After Q brings them back from their Borg encounter, the Borg cube does indeed set course for Earth and starts destroying everything in its path. The culmination is a double episode where, IRC, the Borg destroys most of starfleet and Capt. Picard is temporarily assimilated, leaving him permanently with a connection to the Borg. Some of my favorite episodes from TNG.

I'm also a huge fan of those particular episodes :)

Easglefan and Desnudo, FWIW, stage 1 of being a Star Trek Geek is Denial....

;)

Wow, uhm, you guys have uniforms?

My favorite exchange of the entire series came from that two-parter:

Picard: "We would rather die!"
Borg: "Death is irrelevant."

Kinda summed up the the relentlessness of the Borg, IMO.

For whatever reason, I could never get into the characters of TNG. I didn't find them particularly interesting, I found Data annoying and I loathe Picard.

The main characters of Voyager were more intriguing or believable to me. Whatever it was, it made me want to keep watching and find out what happened. Plus, the story line, being stuck in space, was definitely a unique twist. A female captain - who some people criticized - really meant very little to me. She was more of a man than Picard, and well, I guess I like that in my captains. ;)

Are there any more Star Trek motion pictures or series in the works?

My advise would be to get into DS9. I too avoided initially, but got into it once the DVD's came out. In my opinion it was the best of all the Trek's.

The first couple of seasons of TNG were not that great, IMO. In fact, I'd say the seasons took off when the Borg got introduced. There really wasn't much of an interconnecting story line in TNG like you see in other shows like the X-Files. It was just one "filler-like" episode after another.

I think that's why I liked DS9 from the start. They started with a storyline, and when that finished, went to another, and then another, etc. It didn't seem like TNG had a ongoing storyline until the Borg.

I looked up the episodes. "Q Who?" is the first episode with the Borg. It's a 2nd Season TNG episode (If you have netflix or another means of renting it, it's Disc 4 of Season 2). And then the last episode of Season 3 is when they come back. "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I". Part 2 is the first episode of the 4th season. That basically gives you the background ofr it.

Also, very important. If you ever do want to start watching DS9, I HIGHLY suggest you at least watch "Best of Both Worlds", both parts. The main character in DS9 is tied to the events that happen in those episodes. It's not majorly important, or even important. I'm just kind of anal when it comes to watching things from beginning to end, including any spinoffs or if it's a sequal of some kind. I need to watch everything in order. :)

Hmm... no love for the "Enterprise" series.

I wonder why... :rolleyes:

It's alright, if for no other reason than Jolene Blalock.

Where is it written that any Star Trek series must contain a token hottie? Honestly, I think this has been the achilles' heel of the franchise for a long time. I mean, Counselor Troi was downright ridiculous until about season 5 or so... then they tried to get clever in DS9 with Dax, but it's no exaggeration that she was one of those chicks that was just a little TOO much like one of the guys... and 7 of 9... dear god... has there been a more blatant attempt to put boobs on TV?

I miss the good old days... when the hot chicks were the scantily clad green skinned aliens that Kirk would boink on the occasional away mission. Was there really a problem with that formula? Fresh hotties every other episode or so... but no need to actually try to make real characters out of the eye candy.

Kirk would have kung-fu'd Q, banged the Borg queen and wiped out the Borg in one episode.

Picard is a wuss.

Bullshit.

Kirk couldn't hold Picard's jock. It's no contest. Picard's 10x's the captain or man Kirk ever was. Write it down.

Awesome... a Kirk-Picard flame war. Let me get my bat'leth and we'll make a regular convention out of this thread.

I think I need a decoder ring to read this thread.

Sounds like your universal translator is malfunctioning. It might be a theta radiation leak, or some rogue tetryon emissions from a nearby wormhole or subspace reactor.

K'PLAH!

Amen!