Q Who Slice...

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by PhoenixIreland, Oct 9, 2008.

  1. PhoenixIreland

    PhoenixIreland Captain Captain

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    Were the people in that slice of the Ent-D the borg cut out assimilated? to give the borg a taste for humans? See if they added to perfection?
     
  2. MeanJoePhaser

    MeanJoePhaser Admiral

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    They were vented into space.
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    At the time the episode was written, assimilation hadn't been conceived yet; Q states that the Borg have no interest in people, only technology, and Riker finds that the drones are incubated from infancy. So no doubt Maurice Hurley's assumption was that those 18 people had died. In retrospect, however, it's logical to assume that at least some of them were assimilated, just like the multiple other assimilated Alpha-Quadrant individuals seen in VGR.

    In my recent TNG novel Greater Than the Sum, I confirmed that at least one of those 18 people was assimilated and ultimately liberated in "Unimatrix Zero."
     
  4. Lt_Wandrey

    Lt_Wandrey Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Some of them were at the wrong place at the wrong time and could've gotten sucked out into space or killed as the beam sliced through the ship. I agree if there were any survivors from all that they were probably assimilated right away.
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Unless the cylindrical beam that extracted them was also a containment field holding in the atmosphere. The Borg may have wanted them alive for study and/or assimilation.
     
  6. PhoenixIreland

    PhoenixIreland Captain Captain

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    I was watching a you tube clip of it and even though assimilation had not been added to the storyline at this stage it's really the only thing that makes sense to me. Why else would they cut a section out of the crew quarters? Theres no valuable technology there.

    I assumed that because the tractor beam seemed really tight around the cut out section it was also acting as a forcefield keeping the air in.

    I can just imagine some poor bastard walking into his living room after a shower and suddenly his quarters are in space surrounded by a forcefield being sucked towards some giant borg cube
     
  7. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    It was always my asumption that it was because of the Borg and that slice of the ship that they started assimilating. They had those 18 people, decided to hook them up to the network and then gained Starfleet's sense of "assimilation" of cultures. Which is mostly what it is they seem to do. (Though less severely than the Borg do) And Starfleet has a sense of trying to "perfect" themselves and unify the galaxy under those protections.

    So the strong ideals drilled into the heads of those 18 Starfleet/Federation officers infected the Borg so they went out and did just that and took the idea too far.

    It was perfect and harmonious. Beautiful, really.

    Then Voyager came and fucked that notion all up.
     
  8. PhoenixIreland

    PhoenixIreland Captain Captain

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    Thats a very interesting theory, I was gonna ask if voyagers flashbacks messed with that but you answerd that in your last line:lol::lol::lol:
     
  9. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    Or...they just sliced out a random chunk to have a look at what they were about to "consume". It was just a taste.
     
  10. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I thought for sure Voyager had run into plenty of borg that were former Federation members, linking to TNG episodes.
     
  11. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    Hors d’oeuvres?
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Several, yes. Riley from "Unity" and Laura from "Unimatrix Zero" were taken at Wolf 359. Marika in "Survival Instinct" was taken from the Excalibur in an unspecified instance that could've been Wolf 359. Seven recovered the memories of a couple of Starfleet personnel in "Infinite Regress," including at least one Wolf 359 participant as well as an ensign from the starship Tombaugh, which was assimilated with its entire crew in 2362, several years before the official first contact in "Q Who." We also met a Romulan ex-drone in "Unity" and an assimilated Klingon general in "Unimatrix Zero." So there were no specific links to any TNG episodes other than BoBW.
     
  13. Sheliak

    Sheliak Commodore Commodore

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    A cellular peptide cake, with mint frosting. :guffaw:
     
  14. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Drone: "Hey, I love these new snacks! Crunchy on the outside and a chewy center!"
     
  15. Holdfast

    Holdfast Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    On the Borg scale, I think it barely qualifies as an amuse bouche. ;)
     
  16. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Voyager ran into every one of TNG's loose threads.

    :rolleyes:
     
  17. Plecostomus

    Plecostomus Commodore

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    Somehow I think assimilating Troi would lower the navigational perfection of the Collective... Also I really doubt they need someone to tell the collective that they the ship that fired on them might be hostile to the Collective. In other words Troi is irrelevant.
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Bull. She was at the helm of an out-of-control, non-aerodynamic hunk of metal larger than an aircraft carrier and plummeting out of orbit, and she landed it flat and in one piece with zero casualties. That's astonishingly good piloting.
     
  19. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ah, but if they assimilate Lwaxana? The collective might self destruct just to put itself out of the misery. :p
     
  20. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    You've got a head on your shoulders. What are you doing in this argument?