What if Riker became Locutus instead of Picard and was assimilated by the Borg? How would that have changed the show as a whole?
What if Riker became Locutus instead of Picard?
- Thread starter Snowdrop82
- Start date
I don't think television, nay -- the world -- was prepared for a Borg with a beard.
Picard's angst becomes Riker's angst. And only comes up when needed. So, probably not all that much.
Riker would have slept with the Borg Queen.
Well someone was going to say it.
Well someone was going to say it.
Locutus of Beard.
Resistance to the beard is futile. You will all become one, with my beard.
The make-up on him would look worse because of his beard. That, or they'd shave it. First Contact would be a lot more Riker-centric. The episode Family would probably not be about family but rather Riker going to Risa. 
Other than that? Not much.
Other than that? Not much.
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Would have cleared the way for Tom a lot easier if Riker had stayed / gotten blown up as a Borg. Lol.
Would have been a lot more shocking to find his transporter duplicate, thats for sure.
Would have been a lot more shocking to find his transporter duplicate, thats for sure.
It would add a wrinkle to his and Deanna's relationship; the lines between counselor/patient and boyfriend/girlfriend would start to blur - not on purpose, but there's bound to be overlap, even if only in Riker's imagination. Tension would build, and turbulence would test them.
I just think...this wouldn't happen. They go after Picard because he was the one who spoke to them in "Q-Who?" To them he was the Federation's representative. "BOBW" is caused by "Q-Who?" and "Q-Who?" is caused by Picard's hubris in the face of Q's challenge. And that's spun out of the stuff in Season 1.
I really love that Q's appearances have this ripple effect on one another up until "Q-Pid"
I really love that Q's appearances have this ripple effect on one another up until "Q-Pid"
Interesting since Borg are called "# of #".
In this re-imagining, what if Riker saved them from the Borg, using his dormant Q-powers from the previous appearance, activated by being in the presence of Q.
Are we looking at as an episode or like an event in universe? Because as an episode it takes away from the lesson learned by Picard that he's not ready if Riker steps in and saves the day. I think it also steps on the end of "Hide and Q" and the lesson learned by Riker about giving up power voluntarily. If it's just an in-universe event then do the Borg even know it was Riker that zapped them away? They didn't know it was Q. Even so, Riker zaps them back to Federation space, then Q gets annoyed that no one learns a lesson and he zaps away, and the Borg still come looking for Picard anyway.
Here's another one:
What if Janeway defeated the Borg Queen, but in the process found herself ensnared and transformed unwillingly into the new Borg Queen by the outting Queen?
That would mean Chacotay would have been the Captain of Voyager, 7 of 9 probably would have gotten more authority.
Then in "Star Trek: Picard", maybe it would have meant Picard having to destroy Borg Queen Janeway.
What if Janeway defeated the Borg Queen, but in the process found herself ensnared and transformed unwillingly into the new Borg Queen by the outting Queen?
That would mean Chacotay would have been the Captain of Voyager, 7 of 9 probably would have gotten more authority.
Then in "Star Trek: Picard", maybe it would have meant Picard having to destroy Borg Queen Janeway.
On TNG, Hugh was known as "Third of Five."
Now the Borg have dropped the adjective aspect and are numbering drones sequentially (See: "Seven of Nine").
They said in BOBW that Picard commanded the "strongest ship" in the Federation.
FC added that the Borg wanted Locutus to be a "bridge between humanity and the Borg".
In both cases, these are informed abilities about Picard told to us by the Borg that wasn't even clearly established until the Borg said so. I don't believe it was established that the Ent-D was the Fed's strongest ship until the Borg said so in BOBW. And as far as Picard being a bridge between humanity and the Borg, plenty of material up to including the Picard show has shown that Picard can be a fine officer but a pretty ****ty human being (something he himself admits on occasion), so yeah.
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