FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q?

DostoyevskyClone · October 8 2012, 05:33 PM

My apologies if this has been brought up before, but it just occurred to me: why didn't the Borg create the temporal vortex in their own galaxy, thereby precluding any possibility that they would be interfered with?

I'm assuming they traveled from the Delta Quadrant. Couldn't they have just made the same journey...but in 2063? If they had done this, wouldn't this have assured they met no resistance when entering Earth's orbit?

King Daniel into Darkness · October 8 2012, 05:39 PM

I thought the time travel was plan B, hastily implimented once plan A (Fly cube to Earth. Destroy. Assimilate. etc.) failed and the queen got her knickers in a twist.

MacLeod · October 8 2012, 05:52 PM

Another Plot hole, is why not just use the transwarp conduit that exits about 1 ly from Earth. (VOY: Endgame) of course it might not have been constructd at that point.

Christopher · October 8 2012, 06:26 PM

The Borg having time travel at all is a huge plot hole. If they already had the ability to go back in time and change history, why haven't they already done so and assimilated the whole galaxy retroactively? It's also out of character for them; when they suffer a setback, they just accept it and keep on pushing forward until they overwhelm it by sheer numbers and persistence. (I offered a possible explanation for this inconsistency in my novel Watching the Clock.)

6079SmithW · October 8 2012, 08:27 PM

It is possible that the Borg had just recently invented/assimilated the time travel technology and it was not a sure thing. If the technology was new and not completely refined, perhaps they only had enough power for one time travel trip. With regards to the location of the trip, maybe they thought it would be more efficient to time travel physically close to earth so they wouldn't have to travel a long distance once the time travel trip was complete.

R. Star · October 8 2012, 09:13 PM

Because the heroes couldn't follow them if they time traveled in the Delta Quadrant.

Christopher · October 8 2012, 10:00 PM

6079SmithW wrote:

It is possible that the Borg had just recently invented/assimilated the time travel technology and it was not a sure thing. If the technology was new and not completely refined, perhaps they only had enough power for one time travel trip.

But that happened in 2373, and we know the Federation is still intact as late as 2387. If the Borg got time travel once, then presumably all Borg would've had the knowledge from then on, and could've built another device. So the galaxy would still be screwed.

Giving the Borg time travel at all was a very bad idea storywise -- it opens a huge can of worms that the screenwriters didn't bother to address because it was nothing more than a plot gimmick to them. It would've been better if they'd had the Borg and the Enterprise thrown into the past by accident -- say, "Yesterday's Enterprise" style, with the energies of the battle interacting with a natural cosmic phenomenon and creating a time rift.

MrJ · October 8 2012, 10:41 PM

Christopher wrote:

(I offered a possible explanation for this inconsistency in my novel Watching the Clock.)

Which is awesome, by the way.

Christopher wrote:

6079SmithW wrote:

It is possible that the Borg had just recently invented/assimilated the time travel technology and it was not a sure thing. If the technology was new and not completely refined, perhaps they only had enough power for one time travel trip.

But that happened in 2373, and we know the Federation is still intact as late as 2387. If the Borg got time travel once, then presumably all Borg would've had the knowledge from then on, and could've built another device. So the galaxy would still be screwed.

Giving the Borg time travel at all was a very bad idea storywise -- it opens a huge can of worms that the screenwriters didn't bother to address because it was nothing more than a plot gimmick to them. It would've been better if they'd had the Borg and the Enterprise thrown into the past by accident -- say, "Yesterday's Enterprise" style, with the energies of the battle interacting with a natural cosmic phenomenon and creating a time rift.

None of the TNG films were well regarded for their writing. Your idea is better than what we got.

EmperorTiberius · October 8 2012, 11:40 PM

Alternativelly, Borg could have sent 2 cubes and the jig would be up.

King Daniel into Darkness · October 9 2012, 11:35 AM

There was something in one of the DS9 Millenium trilogy novels, where someone asks why the Federation's enemies don't just keep going back in time to conquer Earth in the past. Worf said the Klingon Empire did try, a century ago. They sent fleets back using the slingshot maneuver, but they were never heard from again. It was originally thought they were destroyed going back through time, but another later theory was that they travelled back and succeeded - but in doing so branched off alternate timelines (this was written almost a decade before STXI, btw). So maybe the Borg tried and tried, but Borg-Prime never benefited?

R. Star · October 9 2012, 02:27 PM

The problem with that is, it worked in the case of First Contact... they did change the Prime timeline.

blueziggy · October 9 2012, 03:05 PM

i never had a problem with it. its a little convoluted but:

-if the borg go back in time and assimilate earth before earth develops certain technologies what would become of those technologies? would they just disappear?

-its always stated that the borg want the biological and cultural distinctiveness of each race it assimilates. why would you completely assimilate a culture at a point when its at its infancy? assimilating everyone never made sense because then there would be no growing. leaving a few hundred thousand to continue the culture makes more sense.

King Daniel into Darkness · October 9 2012, 03:46 PM

Zombie Redshirt wrote:

The problem with that is, it worked in the case of First Contact... they did change the Prime timeline.

Good point.

Unless that "temporal wake" that hit sucked the Enterprise-E into the resultant alternate timeline... and the other survivors of the fleet are left forever wondering where the Borg sphere and the Enterprise vanished to. Not exactly dramatically satisfying...

DonIago · October 9 2012, 03:55 PM

^That would be how I'd interpret it though, much like how Nero and Spock jumped tracks.

One wonders whether Our Heroes checked their quantum signatures when they returned to the future to ensure they were back where they were supposed to be.

blueziggy · October 9 2012, 04:40 PM

DonIago wrote:

^That would be how I'd interpret it though, much like how Nero and Spock jumped tracks.

One wonders whether Our Heroes checked their quantum signatures when they returned to the future to ensure they were back where they were supposed to be.

it wouldn't matter since picard is still stuck in the nexus anyway.

October 8 2012, 05:33 PM	#1
DostoyevskyClone Captain Location: Bouville, France	FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? My apologies if this has been brought up before, but it just occurred to me: why didn't the Borg create the temporal vortex in their own galaxy, thereby precluding any possibility that they would be interfered with? I'm assuming they traveled from the Delta Quadrant. Couldn't they have just made the same journey...but in 2063? If they had done this, wouldn't this have assured they met no resistance when entering Earth's orbit? __________________ "Life is islands of ecstasy in an ocean of ennui, and after the age of thirty land is seldom seen. At best we wander from one much-worn sandbar to the next, soon familiar with each grain of sand we see..." The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart

October 8 2012, 05:39 PM	#2
King Daniel into Darkness Admiral Location: KingDaniel has fallen Into Darkness (in England)	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? I thought the time travel was plan B, hastily implimented once plan A (Fly cube to Earth. Destroy. Assimilate. etc.) failed and the queen got her knickers in a twist. __________________ Star Trek Imponderables, fun video mashups of Trek's biggest continuity errors. Episode One Episode Two

October 8 2012, 05:52 PM	#3
MacLeod Vice Admiral Location: Great Britain	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? Another Plot hole, is why not just use the transwarp conduit that exits about 1 ly from Earth. (VOY: Endgame) of course it might not have been constructd at that point. __________________ On the continent of wild endeavour in the mountains of solace and solitude there stood the citadel of the time lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe looking down on the galaxies below sworn never to interfere only to watch.

October 8 2012, 06:26 PM	#4
Christopher Writer	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? The Borg having time travel at all is a huge plot hole. If they already had the ability to go back in time and change history, why haven't they already done so and assimilated the whole galaxy retroactively? It's also out of character for them; when they suffer a setback, they just accept it and keep on pushing forward until they overwhelm it by sheer numbers and persistence. (I offered a possible explanation for this inconsistency in my novel Watching the Clock.) __________________ Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Includes purchasing links for Only Superhuman, on sale now! Updated 12/30/12 with annotations for the novel. Written Worlds -- My blog

October 8 2012, 08:27 PM	#5
6079SmithW Vice Admiral	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? It is possible that the Borg had just recently invented/assimilated the time travel technology and it was not a sure thing. If the technology was new and not completely refined, perhaps they only had enough power for one time travel trip. With regards to the location of the trip, maybe they thought it would be more efficient to time travel physically close to earth so they wouldn't have to travel a long distance once the time travel trip was complete. __________________ Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space.

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October 8 2012, 09:13 PM	#6
R. Star Commodore Location: Terra 3	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? Because the heroes couldn't follow them if they time traveled in the Delta Quadrant. __________________ "I was never a Star Trek fan." J.J. Abrams

October 8 2012, 11:40 PM	#9
EmperorTiberius Captain	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? Alternativelly, Borg could have sent 2 cubes and the jig would be up.

October 9 2012, 11:35 AM	#10
King Daniel into Darkness Admiral Location: KingDaniel has fallen Into Darkness (in England)	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? There was something in one of the DS9 Millenium trilogy novels, where someone asks why the Federation's enemies don't just keep going back in time to conquer Earth in the past. Worf said the Klingon Empire did try, a century ago. They sent fleets back using the slingshot maneuver, but they were never heard from again. It was originally thought they were destroyed going back through time, but another later theory was that they travelled back and succeeded - but in doing so branched off alternate timelines (this was written almost a decade before STXI, btw). So maybe the Borg tried and tried, but Borg-Prime never benefited? __________________ Star Trek Imponderables, fun video mashups of Trek's biggest continuity errors. Episode One Episode Two

October 9 2012, 02:27 PM	#11
R. Star Commodore Location: Terra 3	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? The problem with that is, it worked in the case of First Contact... they did change the Prime timeline. __________________ "I was never a Star Trek fan." J.J. Abrams

October 9 2012, 03:05 PM	#12
blueziggy Lieutenant	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? i never had a problem with it. its a little convoluted but: -if the borg go back in time and assimilate earth before earth develops certain technologies what would become of those technologies? would they just disappear? -its always stated that the borg want the biological and cultural distinctiveness of each race it assimilates. why would you completely assimilate a culture at a point when its at its infancy? assimilating everyone never made sense because then there would be no growing. leaving a few hundred thousand to continue the culture makes more sense.

October 9 2012, 03:55 PM	#14
DonIago Rear Admiral Location: Burlington, VT, USA	Re: FC plothole? Why didn't the Borg create the vortex in the Delta Q? ^That would be how I'd interpret it though, much like how Nero and Spock jumped tracks. One wonders whether Our Heroes checked their quantum signatures when they returned to the future to ensure they were back where they were supposed to be. __________________ --DonIago It was the best of Trek, it was the worst of Trek... "If I lean over, I leave myself open to wedgies, wet willies, or even the dreaded Rear Admiral!"