I re-watched "Regeneration" today and I couldn't help to notice a parallel to "At the Mountains of Madness" in the early scenes: Antartica->Arctic. Lake's team->The research team. Elder Things->The Borg. Dyer & Danforth->Admiral Forest and his aide. The events really seem to mirror the novella, even the state the Borg are found in, the probing and ensuing mayhem, help flying in too late...when Enterprise gets invollved, it becomes harder to maintain the parallel, though. What do you think? Am I seeing patterns were there are none? Is it an intentional homage? A coincidence? Are there other such instances of Enterprise so heavily (by which I mean more than a short and direct reference) adapting events from another media?
It might help if you told us what the hell "At the Mountains of Madness" was. Other than it's a novella.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness But if you've never heard of it, it follows that you can't really know the events of the book You should read it. Everyone should read it.
...And, of course, the tie-in that takes us a bit closer to the world of Star Trek, if only a little: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm But really, evil things plaguing explorers in faraway cold places is as generic as it gets. X-Files and Stargate had their own versions; it was sort of weird the new BSG never tried to tackle the cliche, considering the old one had its well-remembered ice world episode. Timo Saloniemi
Of course, but what prompted the idea of an homage in my head was the specifics of some scenes, not only the situation: Scientists discover unknown creatures in a remote area that wasn't thought to contain much life on the macro level, they send excited reports and try to autopsy the creatures, until abruptly the reports stop. What was thought dead has awakened, the scientists are dead/borgified. But I'm probably seeing too much into those scenes. And I certainly overestimated the size of the Lovecraft fandom 'round here .
<<<Commencing Thread Necromancy>>> I think you're right, Xhiandra. At The Mountains Of Madness may be an inspiration for that episode. And it kinda makes me wonder sometimes looking back at 'Q Who' and 'Best of Both Worlds' if there wasn't some H.R. Giger influence there with the Borg. Giger's work is heavily influenced by Lovecraft (he even changed/modified his name to be more like Lovecraft). The bio-mechanical aspect of Giger's artwork work would fit well with the Borg. Looking at it from a Lovecraft point of view also makes you think about how old the Borg Collective really is and how it started.
When I get home and start watching ENT I'll have to make sure I check this one out. I'm a huge Lovecraft fan and ATMOM is one of my favorite stories by Lovecraft.
Since Frankenstein, the frozen North was established as a place where scientific and technical progress ran amok, destroying its creators. MP Shiel's The Purple Cloud is probably the most direct ancestor of Regeneration (as well as Lovecraft and William Thing), creating a genre of horror and science fiction literature in which unknown horrors are unlocked from the eternal ice. Also, the episode seemed to play on the interest in Ötzi..
A very strong story. I also like the short story that was a sequel to Captenter's THE THING where Childs was infected after all--and how much knowledge was lost.