A Random Question/Ramble Regarding the Borg

[Mad Hettie]

I was contemplating this the other day--if the Borg's primary function is assimilation, is that all they do? Is every second of existence for them dedicated to the long term goal of assimilating all lifeforms? What happens if all lifeforms are assimilated? What would the Borg do?

In the Voyager episode "The Omega Directive", it is alluded to (at least to me) that the Borg may actually perform some degree of research. The fact that the Borg were trying to develop the Omega technology makes me think that they might have some scientific goals in mind--but then again, that's thinking from a human perspective. They were probably just trying to develop the Omega technology as a means to assimilate faster and better.

Obviously the Borg don't have fun. They don't do things just for the hell of it. They seem to be cold zombies of pure logic with the sole directive to further the collective goal of assimilating all lifeforms and technology.

But what happens when all lifeforms and technology are assimilated?

And, moreover, do the Borg have any other functions besides assimilation?






On another note, I align myself with the faction of Trekkers that oppose the humanization of the Borg that resulted with First Contact and the development of the Queen character. I highly prefer the old idea of the Borg being a emotionless force of nature.

Oh, and secondly--I prefer the old makeup. I hate the Alien-like, Giger-esque green, insectoid vibe that First Contact and Voyager made popular. I loved the cleaner, black and white look. It just seemed more realistic and sinister to me. How about those Borg from "Best of Both Worlds" and "Q Who?" without mouths? Creepy. Does anyone agree? Or am I alone on this?

I'm alone on a lot of things--I love The Motion Picture, for one.



Wow, that was a meandering ramble. How's that for a first post?

[Kurros]

They are seeking to attain perfection. That's what drives the assimilation and research.

I agree with you about the Humanization.

[Akiraprise]

Mad Hettie wrote:

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Wow, that was a meandering ramble. How's that for a first post?

You'll fit in just fine here.

I too prefer the cold emotionless Borg, but the makeup improvements First Contact brought were a needed improvement.

[Mad Hettie]

Kurros wrote:

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They are seeking to attain perfection. That's what drives the assimilation and research.

I agree with you about the Humanization.

But what happens when they attain perfection? What is perfection to the Borg?

I don't think these questions are ever answered in the series.

If everything is assimilated and part of the Borg, would the Borg simply go into permanent stasis? Is that perfection? What would they do? I mean, what do you guys think they would do?

And what sort of things do they do to occupy their time besides attempting to assimilate everything? Is perfection, to the Borg, the assimilation of all lifeforms and technology?

Do the Borg even know what this "perfection" is that they're trying to attain?

What would happen if you asked a Borg drone what perfection was exactly? Would he or she give an explicit answer, or would the drone simply flop to the floor in convulsions and self-destruct? It'd probably be the equivalent of asking a drone to divide by zero.

All kidding aside, I've probably used too many question marks in this post. In an attempt to distill all of my random questions down into a singular inquiry, I'm mostly just asking if the Borg do anything other than assimilate lifeforms and technology, because I gather that that is probably what they view as "attaining perfection".

[Mad Hettie]

Akiraprise wrote:

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You'll fit in just fine here.

Hoo-ray. I was afraid I'd scare everyone away with my nerdy Trek questions.

Then I remembered where I was. Fabulous!

Akiraprise wrote:

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I too prefer the cold emotionless Borg, but the makeup improvements First Contact brought were a needed improvement.

There are things I like on the new Borg look, like the detail on the skin, to the extent that you can see some of the subdermal circuitry showing through. Very cool. I think, mostly, I dislike some of the stylistic issues and, as mentioned, the shift towards a decidedly green, sickly, Alien-esque theme. It seemed like a bit of a devolution. Plus, a lot of the newer actors that have played Borg, especially those in Enterprise, have this sort of Zombie-ish look to their faces, as if they're saying "Mmm, braaaaiiiinnnsss..." instead of "Mmm, technooollloooogggyyyyy..."

[QueenOfTheBorg]

I think the Borg know that perfection cannot be obtained. They constantly try to add cultural and technical distinctiveness to their own.
They only assimilate cultures that are worthy of assimilation so it is not their primary goal to assimilate everything.

I do not agree on the humanization part. Fortunately the Borg evolved with the rest of the series. We wouldn't have accepted Janeway with Uhuru's communicator would we?
The Borg's cheap first appearance has been replaced by a look more in line with their viewer ratings just as the mud-monsters of TOS have been replaced by more realistic CGI generated monsters.

[Kurros]

They don't mind reminiscing around a campfire.



to be fair, these drones are disconnected from the collective.

What are the origins of the Borg? It's probably been explored and explained before but i just can't understand the Borg that well.

The Queen is an individual.

[Brit]

Mad Hettie wrote:

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I dislike some of the stylistic issues and, as mentioned, the shift towards a decidedly green, sickly, Alien-esque theme.

The Green lighting, in connection with the Queen was explained in "Dark Frontier." It is the Queens Command interface. Some people don't care for the sweaty Borg appearance we saw in "First Contact" supposedly their implants work better at around one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. But when you think about it, a Borg Cube is huge, the heat buildup has to be enormous and probably hotter than can be compensated for, so the implants work better at higher temperatures because they have to work in higher temperatures period.

And I agree with you that the Queen is an individual, but there are those around here that do not.

No species villainous or not can remain a complete mystery when you include them in stories. The writer needs to be able to defeat them, so that each time they were used we learned just a little more. They had to have weaknesses to be interesting and to be useable, if not all of Trek would have ended with "Q Who." The Borg would have assimilated the Enterprise and then the rest of the federation.

Brit

[JB2005]

Kurros wrote:

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The Queen is an individual.

Don't go there

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=102447

[Unicron]

Brit wrote:

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No species villainous or not can remain a complete mystery when you include them in stories. The writer needs to be able to defeat them, so that each time they were used we learned just a little more. They had to have weaknesses to be interesting and to be useable, if not all of Trek would have ended with "Q Who." The Borg would have assimilated the Enterprise and then the rest of the federation.

Brit

Agreed. While the writers may not have always handled the humanization aspect in the best ways, I think it's an important facet of the threat the Borg represent. Having them simply be a mysterious, faceless (and potentially overpowered) enemy would be just as bad.

[kimc]

Mad Hettie wrote:

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What is perfection to the Borg?

An excellent question. Perfection can mean different things to different people. The borg may have thought they were moving towards perfection but in my opinion when you're walking around with gray, mottled skin and tubes sticking out of you then you're moving AWAY from perfection.

Unicron wrote:

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Having them simply be a mysterious, faceless (and potentially overpowered) enemy would be just as bad.

I found them more frightening when they were mysterious and faceless but perhaps that's just me...

[Unicron]

It depends on how they were used. I think the Romulans ran into the same problem: they're supposed to be one of the major powers, and yet they've been barely used more than the "minor" races that are supposed to key players in organizations like the Federation (Andorians, Tellarites etc.)

[Brit]

It seems to me that whatever villainous entity was being used in Trek was based on what scares us, the audience. You can see the distinction between The Original Series and Next Generation because there was enough time between those two to see the line.

We were scared of the Klingons (they were mysterious) in TOS, but by the time NG came along we were getting along and coming to respect each other.

The Borg was the fear of being swallowed by the huge machine and becoming just a cog in the wheel of progress without identity.

In the new movie the villain represents the fear of the terrorist, the individual that has only ties to some ambiguous goal and whose true intent is to simply destroy.

I don't think the Borg ceased to be scary because of overuse so much as because we as an audience are simply not as effected by them as say we are by Nero right now. In five years all this could be completely different and there would be a new scary villain.

Brit

[Kathryn_Janeway]

Throughout the years, I came to my own conclusions regarding The Borg's idea of Perfection.

Throughout all of the dealings The Federation had with The Borg, it is evident that The Borg have weaknesses, they rely on adaptation and assimilation.

In my opinion The Borg assimilate the strengths and knowledge of various species to overcome their weaknesses in order to dominate the galaxy. The Borg Queen has shown both her desire and egotistical ways of dealing with more powerful species or individuals in search for this perfection.

[apenpaap]

I think that if the Borg managed to assimilate evrything in the universe, they would build really big ships with very strong tractor beams, and tractor all stars in the universe onto a rectangular grid.