What if Hugh had stayed aboard Enterprise in I, Borg?

[Six of Twelve]

While re-watching this episode today, I wondered about how the writers would have done it had Hugh remained aboard in at least a recurring role, and how it would have differed from how Seven of Nine joined the Voyager crew.

Provided that Enterprise could shake the Borg cube coming for him and that Hugh could remain aboard for at least several months, if not longer, how do you think things would have gone for him?

I'm guessing that he would have likely retained his Borg appearance and implants, as Geordi was able to make new ones for the ones he had that were malfunctioning and it didn't seem as if his body was rejecting them as he regained his individuality. I'm guessing he'd have ended up with an alcove for regeneration to replace the obviously temporary solution Geordi had rigged in the holding cell.

I can imagine him having many interactions with Guinan, each having much to teach one another, as well as the more obvious interactions with Geordi. I don't think Picard would have taken him under his wing, as Janeway did with Seven of Nine. And, in true TNG fashion, I think he'd have ended up as the first Borg in Starfleet Academy. I can't imagine Seven doing the same.

I have a bit of a plot bunny in my mind to write a fan fiction story exploring this idea, so any ideas of your own would be appreciated.

 

[T'Elann]

I think if he had stayed o board he would have ended up in a starfleet lab being tested for a way to defeat the borg and would not have had as nearly a free life as seven when voyager was stranded no where near starfleet

 

[STEPhon IT]

I could see Geordi becoming a mentor to Hugh; even an apprentice in Engineering. Data could've shared his findings with him in becoming human.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Bottom line: the TNG ensemble was just too large to give the main cast of characters enough to do, as it was. Hugh simply wouldn't have worked. Ro, for all that she brought to the mix, all of that potential she had: member of a newly-introduced alien species, a checkered past, bridge officer, truckloads of sex appeal ... they simply could not find anything for her to do. She fell right into the same situation as her predecessor

Tasha Yar seemed to have a lot of potential, but when it came time to insert her into the stories, she just about justified her presence on the show by keeping hailing frequencies open. Hugh was a good kid, I'm sure he would've been best mates with Geordi and Data, BUT ... he would've basically been a tag-along. And that's the last thing TNG needed from another regular character.

 

[BillJ]

I seriously think Hugh would have put TNG over the limit of bland characters allowed on a single TV show.

 

[JesterFace]

If Hugh had stayed, I wonder if he would have stayed for long. Like in 'Offspring', Lal was almost taken away by force by Starfleet, if there was a Borg on the ship, Starfleet might want it to be examined inside out somewhere else... Like they wanted to do with Lal.

 

[Six of Twelve]

Well, I didn't mean he'd have been a permanent addition like Seven of Nine was for Voyager. I meant for him appearing in a handful of episodes. And they did see fit to bring him back at least once.

 

[Paradise City]

Hugh wouldn't have stayed on the Enterprise. He would've been left at a Starbase. Voyager acquired crew members because they were obviously out on their owny own. I would've liked to have thought that Hugh would've been a consultant for rather than dissected by Starfleet.

 

[Kor]

Hugh would have been the new wunderkind to replace Wesley. No, thanks.

Kor

 

[JesterFace]

There would be no 'Descent' episodes... but like Hugh said, Borg will follow and search for him, that would've meant another kind of Borg episodes than 'Descent'.

It would have been an interesting episode where the Enterprise crew would be intentionally spreading individuality to the collective like Picard described in 'I Borg'.

 

[Tracy Trek]

But that didn't really damage the Borg completely. Weren't the affected ones more or less cut off from the rest of the collective so they couldn't spread their individuality? It might have been interesting if they had followed up with Hugh and his brethren on "Voyager".

 

[Six of Twelve]

But that didn't really damage the Borg completely. Weren't the affected ones more or less cut off from the rest of the collective so they couldn't spread their individuality? It might have been interesting if they had followed up with Hugh and his brethren on "Voyager".

One has to wonder if Hugh's situation wad in any way connected with the Unimatrix 0 creation.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Seems like Brannon Braga was deep in the asses of modern cinema at the time and transplanted those ideas into Star Trek. The Matrix was very popular back when; sooooo he inputted virtual reality into the Borg and calling it Unimatrix-WHA??? Nothing new with him, he went on to transplant James Cameron's Aliens into the Borg by re-imagining them into a Queen-centric race of automatons.

 

[Shikarnov]

But that didn't really damage the Borg completely. Weren't the affected ones more or less cut off from the rest of the collective so they couldn't spread their individuality? It might have been interesting if they had followed up with Hugh and his brethren on "Voyager".

I don't know. I got a little tired of all the "liberated Borg" stories. Locutus was one thing -- a very recent assimilation reversed. Hugh also wasn't so bad, in that he wasn't so much restored as he was "cut-off."

But after that, they really got carried away by transforming drones into slaves to a master with very sophisticated control technologies.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Data could've shared his findings with him in becoming human.

Hugh wasn't human though.

 

[Nyotarules]

Section 31 would have tried to turn him into a weapon to destroy the Borg

 

[JesterFace]

But that didn't really damage the Borg completely.

It should have. Picard knew what he was talking about when he said that when Hugh rejoins the collective a sense of individuality would be spread through the entire collective. Basically, after 'I Borg' there shouldn't have been a Borg collective at all.

 

[Shikarnov]

Picard knew what he was talking about...

Did he, though? We have no way of knowing how much of the hive mind Locutus had access to, or how much Picard retained of that knowledge after his rescue.

 

[Six of Twelve]

One would think the Borg would have had the sense to check those Borg whose links to the Collective had been severed for any sort of virus, as a precautionary measure before re-assimilating them. I can't Imagine that Hugh was the first drone to have ever been severed from the link. And the Borg strike me as being very thorough and not at all the trusting type, so them not checking Hugh before re-assimilation seems very inefficient and slipshod on their end of things.

 

[Shikarnov]

One would think the Borg would have had the sense to check those Borg whose links to the Collective had been severed for any sort of virus, as a precautionary measure before re-assimilating them. I can't Imagine that Hugh was the first drone to have ever been severed from the link. And the Borg strike me as being very thorough and not at all the trusting type, so them not checking Hugh before re-assimilation seems very inefficient and slipshod on their end of things.

I concur. At the very least, one would think such drones would be placed behind some kind of firewall that allows them to access the hive mind without contributing to it.

 

[BillJ]

It should have. Picard knew what he was talking about when he said that when Hugh rejoins the collective a sense of individuality would be spread through the entire collective. Basically, after 'I Borg' there shouldn't have been a Borg collective at all.

But shouldn't have Picard's sense of individuality done the same thing? Or the Hansen's? Or the folks abducted at Wolf 359? Or all the other species they assimilated over their collective lifetime?

 

[Ghrakh]

I seriously think Hugh would have put TNG over the limit of bland characters allowed on a single TV show.

Yeah, they should have been token "ethnics".

 

[JesterFace]

But shouldn't have Picard's sense of individuality done the same thing? Or the Hansen's? Or the folks abducted at Wolf 359? Or all the other species they assimilated over their collective lifetime?

I guess the difference is that since Hugh was already assimilated and a member of the hive, they would just plug him back in, instead of "individuality erasing" assimilation that is "used" when new members are joined into the collective. This new individuality was introduced to Hugh's Borg programming when he was already a member of the hive.

 

[Six of Twelve]

I guess the difference is that since Hugh was already assimilated and a member of the hive, they would just plug him back in, instead of "individuality erasing" assimilation that is "used" when new members are joined into the collective. This new individuality was introduced to Hugh's Borg programming when he was already a member of the hive.

But when his scout ship crash landed on the planet, his link was severed, just as Seven of Nine's was when she and the other drones crash landed in their scout ship in Survival Instinct. Hugh wouldn't have been so easily reachable by Geordi if he'd still been fully connected.

As I said above, a quarantine time for such returning drones before being fully relinked again would have only been a sensible precaution.