Would these species be desirable as drones for the Borg?

[Tim Thomason]

Thanks. I was kind of making a joke but didn't know any of that. Explains a lot. Is this from a novel?

Everything in my description is from canon (Time's Arrow, Q Who, Rascals, Star Trek Generations). Novels have generally done a good job of keeping things mysterious about the El-Aurians, but the underlying presumption is that they were/are a more advanced species than humans.

 

[Mr. Low Frequency]

Everything in my description is from canon (Time's Arrow, Q Who, Rascals, Star Trek Generations). Novels have generally done a good job of keeping things mysterious about the El-Aurians, but the underlying presumption is that they were/are a more advanced species than humans.

It's been awhile since I saw those episodes. I'll have to have a Guinan marathon soon and refresh my memory. Or at least pay better attention. I knew the El-Aurians were long lived but my assumption from Generations, by them being refugees headed to Earth I guess, was that they weren't as advanced. Or at least not anymore. I wonder why they never explained the Borg to Starfleet at that time?

 

[DonIago]

With regards to species designations...maybe the Borg don't use a base-10 numbering system?

 

[PR109]

The Borg have already assimilated the Ferengi. They would definitely assimilate the Jem Hadar. The Jem Hadar's weapons would greatly add to the Borg perfection. The Jem Hadar would kill a few drones but eventually the borg will adapt and assimilate the Jem Hadar. The borg are extremely powerful and people forget that because of the way Voyager kept defeating them like a super mario bros boss.

 

[Tenacity]

I wonder why they never explained the Borg to Starfleet at that time?

El-Aurians are listeners, not talkers.

The borg are extremely powerful ...

While strong, I wouldn't describe the Borg as "extremely powerful." The Federation was able to hold them back and debatably Admiral Janeway destroyed them in Endgame, and the species from fluidic space had the potential to destroy them.

The Borg likely prey mostly on weak and primitive species, with advanced species being the exception.

 

[Mr. Low Frequency]

El-Aurians are listeners, not talkers.

Touché

 

[1001001]

I wonder why they never explained the Borg to Starfleet at that time?

I assume they did.

That's where the Hansen's mission came from.

 

[Mr. Low Frequency]

I assume they did.

That's where the Hansen's mission came from.

That's a good point. The timeline of their mission always kind of confused me. I figured they left pretty much straight after 'Q Who', since no one on the Enterprise D had heard of the Borg at that point. But I guess it could have been super top secret Section 31 knowledge that the Hansen's got a hold of.
Anyway, no matter how you look at it dealing with continuity that spans decades worth of productions, with a lot of different writers, is going to get a bit messy here and there.

I wonder if the Borg ever tried to assimilate a shape shifter?

 

[Tenacity]

That's where the Hansen's mission came from.

my view of the Hanson's was they were purely civilian researcher, like Jane Goodall in Africa, and not some official federation expedition.

they could have been looking into the borg (without knowing exactly what they were) prior to Picard's encounter with the borg.

 

[trekshark]

The Hansons could have overheard a drunk elaurian in a frontier bar for all we know. Their work might be a bit of retconning but to me it's not major. Iirc Guinan tells the crew in Q Who that she knows about the borg, so just because star fleet at large didn't it's not impossible just from tng that there wasn't some knowledge.

 

[Prax]

The Hansens did say they were following up on various bits of rumors, and that their colleagues thought they were nuts.

Edit(not nuts because they thought the Borg were dangerous, but nuts because their colleagues thought it was a wild goose chase looking for a phantom that might not exist)

 

[Tim Thomason]

The Hansens were reading Captain Archer's old starlogs. They were also searching for the fabled "Ferengi".

 

[Prax]

I'm sure there were lots of people who lived in the Federation who had met Ferengi by the time of TNG, but Starfleet just hadn't had an official introduction to an official Ferengi starship yet.

 

[Finn]

Yup. Data and the Enterprise's computer did not have all of the knowledge obtained by every single Federation citizen that had ever lived...

 

[PR109]

El-Aurians are listeners, not talkers.While strong, I wouldn't describe the Borg as "extremely powerful." The Federation was able to hold them back and debatably Admiral Janeway destroyed them in Endgame, and the species from fluidic space had the potential to destroy them.

The Borg likely prey mostly on weak and primitive species, with advanced species being the exception.

I do not think the Borg are the most powerful species in the galaxy (That would be Q) but I never took what Voyager did with the borg seriously. They defeated them like if they were regular bosses in a Super Mario game. I do love the Voyager borg episodes but didn't like how they humanized the borg and made them a regular villain whereas the TNG borg were merciless and destructive.

I don't know if I agree with your comment of the borg only assimilating weaker species. That would imply that the Borg are deliberately only assimilating primitive species. The Borg are willing to assimilate any species as long as it advances their technology. The borg still didn't give up despite 8472 destroying their cubes like nothing. They still seeked for perfection as show in Scorpion Part II. The borg have assimilated Humans, Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Cardassians, Ferengi, Bajorans, whatever race the Borg queens are, etc I wouldnt call many of those species primitive but not advanced either. I think the Borg could have had a chance to assimilate an advance species like 8472 but there are always bigger prey with stronger defenses.

Kinda off topic but I wish they let 8472 remain as a merciless alien. 8472 had so much potential. We haven't seen a species so malevolent and powerful as then since the Changelings. All 8472 needed was one bio ship to destroy several Borg cubes. I'm also convinced 8472 could easily defeat The Founders/Changelings as well. All they need to do is simply send a few bio ships to exterminate the planet the Founders reside. In Voyager fashion, they ruined 8472 by humanizing them.

 

[Prax]

They defeated them like if they were regular bosses in a Super Mario game. I do love the Voyager borg episodes but didn't like how they humanized the borg and made them a regular villain whereas the TNG borg were merciless and destructive.

They defeated them like once...

...in the finale.

Otherwise, the few times they encountered the actual Borg collective(as opposed to ex drones, Borg children, Borg scrapyards etc), they usually narrowly escape with some help. They actually repeat some of TNG's tactics. Q sends the Enterprise out of Borg space. Kes sends Voyager out of Borg Space. Data destroys the cube by linking with it. Chakotay saves Voyager by linking with Seven. When Voyager does actually defeat the Borg in the finale, it's by letting them assimilate a virus, similar to the plan the TNG crew were going to use to destroy the entire collective with(in I, Borg), but decided it would be wrong.

Humanizing an enemy is a staple of Star Trek, which is more apt to have an antagonist that can be related to, than an evil villain.

 

[Timo]

Indeed, although the repeated use of any adversary automatically weakens that adversary (unless the show has expendable protagonists who can drop like flies to maintain the credibility of the threat), the Borg IMHO only got scarier in VOY. We learned more of their ways, and then we learned more of what they might aim at - and it turns out that defeating the heroes is not one of their major goals at all. So failing to defeat them is not really a shortcoming after all... And being so major a threat despite not even caring is ominous indeed.

A "truly merciless" adversary is always going to feel like a letdown when the evil scheme is thwarted. An enemy that "doesn't care" in turn is the automatic epitome of cool, no matter what the outcome after all the exciting action and hair-raising close calls.

Timo Saloniemi