Why did Picard wait so long to destroy the Borg sphere in First Contact?

[The Rock]

After they destroy the Borg cube a Borg sphere launches from the cube and flies towards Earth getting ready to time travel back in time. Instead of destroying it ASAP, Picard orders Lt. Hawk to chase after it.

What exactly was Picard waiting for here? Why didn't he destroy it immediately? If he did, the sphere wouldn't have been able to go back in time and the Enterprise and her crew could've avoided a big headache.

 

[Coops]

I don't think he was waiting I think he was partly struck with the enormity of what he was about to do, this was it, this was his moment to strike back at the Borg and take the revenge he'd been denying he even wanted. But I also saw it as the moment where he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to destroy them, he hesitated because of his still very real connection to the Borg. Star Fleet was right, his presence was "an unstable element to a critical situation".

Every time I watch it I notice ships being destroyed in the background as he hesitates, sucks to be them obviously, but if he'd shot the Sphere down right away the film would've been 20 minutes long.

 

[Timo]

Remember that Borg ships do not have weak spots.

What they have instead is weak moments, specific times when the ever-shifting locations of the vital Cube functions hit an unfortunate combo. Locutus would be able to sense those, commanding the fleet to fire when main power control is routed to the specific spot Picard ordered targeted.

Firing at that spot twenty seconds earlier would have done no harm to the Borg...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[NCC-73515]

He also waited until that poor Steamrunner was hit until he finally said "fire" ...I think it's just for dramatic effect, like Oh telling her fleet 15 times to now really prepare to fire... XD

 

[imranbecks]

At the time, the crew wasn't even aware that the Borg had the means to time travel. They never showed any of that capability before this. I guess they thought they were gonna pursue it to see where it would go, but only to be caught in a temporal wake left behind by the sphere shortly after it created a temporal vortex. By then it was too late to turn back. The only way was to follow them and repair the damage they would've done in the past.

 

[fireproof78]

Every time I watch it I notice ships being destroyed in the background as he hesitates, sucks to be them obviously, but if he'd shot the Sphere down right away the film would've been 20 minutes long.

Better movie.

 

[USS Firefly]

Remember that Borg ships do not have weak spots.

What they have instead is weak moments, specific times when the ever-shifting locations of the vital Cube functions hit an unfortunate combo. Locutus would be able to sense those, commanding the fleet to fire when main power control is routed to the specific spot Picard ordered targeted.

Firing at that spot twenty seconds earlier would have done no harm to the Borg...

Timo Saloniemi

Good point, I never thought of that

 

[Timo]

...Now, what we have to think hard about is the reason the Collective allowed Picard to eavesdrop that way.

Picard hadn't heard the Borg for ages, even though everything in VOY suggests they are always everywhere, like so many cubical Bigfeet. But now he gets handed the keys to Borg destruction, indeed even specifically invited to attend the very destruction party.

And then he goes to the past and helps Cochrane fly. The result? The UFP is born. Surely a goal that the Borg would strive for, since the UFP gives them so many delicious things to assimilate. But Cochrane's piece of junk might never have gotten off the ground if not for the help of LaForge and Barclay and all the other mustardshirts who had read the assembly instructions out of history books - quite possibly written as the result of their previous helpful visit to the 21st century, in a long series of time loops that culminated in the UFP finally being born for good...

If not for the battle that Picard is allowed to win, there would have been scant motivation for Picard to go repair/build Cochrane's warp rig!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vger23]

Picard knew that the primary systems were still recovering from having gone through the time vortex. If you remember, the shields were still down, which allowed the Borg to beam aboard just as their sphere was destroyed.






Or some other bullshit.

 

[Timo]

Yup. Picard does command "pursuit" rather than "destruction" initially, rather heavily suggesting the first is a prerequisite for the second (long range targeting being down or somesuch). And when the heroes get to the other side, Worf spotting the Sphere firing comes as a revelation, as if the heroes were blinded until then, by the failures of their systems.

But as per the conspiracy theory above, we see Picard freeze because he keeps hearing Borg sounds - no doubt the sirens would be commanding him to hold back till he has no choice but to travel to the past.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[STEPhon IT]

After they destroy the Borg cube a Borg sphere launches from the cube and flies towards Earth getting ready to time travel back in time. Instead of destroying it ASAP, Picard orders Lt. Hawk to chase after it.

What exactly was Picard waiting for here? Why didn't he destroy it immediately? If he did, the sphere wouldn't have been able to go back in time and the Enterprise and her crew could've avoided a big headache.

Man, I wish that story reached for the stars, like replacing Earth with a world where Zefram Cochrane was originally from on Alpha Centauri. What is the fascination for a mission statement to "Explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations" but rather go to Earth??? Limited imaginations was not a way to engage me into this movie, to answer your question @The Rock FIRST CONTACT had a plot where smart people were doing a series of stupid things to progress the writers' bland story. One of the worst Star Trek movies I'd ever seen.