i also read Star Trek #13, very very good read. I really hope this is more of the kind of storytelling IDW does with this book. I can't recommend this one enough, without spoiling anything since it just came out.
IDW to publish post-Nemesis TNG Borg story, possibly Destiny
- Thread starter cdgodin
- Start date
I must admit that I find your disinterest in the Borg a bit off putting since you wrote a pretty good Borg-centric novel. That being said, I think the Borg work best in small doses and in a way precisely for some of the reasons you said. They are a force of nature. And I like seeing our heroes deal with something that unstoppable. A lot about the Trek characters is/can be revealed in every encounter they have with a foe like the Borg.
As for the Borg themselves I still find them pretty cool. I like the aesthetic. I like how the species is composed of some many other species, all adding their knowledge and skills to the whole of the collective. The anti-Federation Federation aspect of the Borg still makes them an interesting adversary.
But it wasn't really Borg-centric. The Borg per se had a fairly small presence in the book and were mostly a catalyst for events. It was more about ex-drones and how they were adapting (so to speak) to life after the Collective, and about the SF concept of the cluster entity, and especially about the developing arc of the TNG crew and the character-level aftermath of the events of previous books. Plus I threw in some stuff that filled in some of the gaps in what we know about the Borg, since I knew that would be my only chance to address those subjects.
I don't know, I just don't see the need to return to the same well. If you've done one story about your heroes surviving a hurricane, you don't need to do another. You find a different insurmountable challenge to pit them against.
Interesting. That's probably the part I hate the most. Even when it first appeared in 1987, I found it a laughably antiquated and crude portrayal of cyborgs. And by modern standards it's even more naive. We're already at the point where bionic implants or enhancements can be much smaller and sleeker than anything the Borg had stuck on them, and at the beginning of research to develop technology built out of organic cells and tissues, not to mention nanotechnology. Heck, it's increasingly starting to look as if nanotech and biotech are convergent fields -- eventually they'll be indistinguishable. A cyborg race wouldn't have to look human, but it wouldn't look like two separate things, flesh and machinery, randomly stuck together.
It might if they were more personified, but they aren't even a race or a civilization. They're a cancer that can talk.
And I've never bought that whole "adding distinctiveness" line. They systematically strip their victims of everything that makes them distinctive, forcing everyone into a homogeneous mass that conforms to their preprogrammed priorities and imperatives. I'd call it hypocrisy if I didn't think that was overly anthropomorphic.
I'm with Christopher and Sci on this one. I liked the Borg, but IMO I don't really see why they where they would need to come back. We've already gotten plenty of Borg stories, and I don't really think there is that much to do with them that wouldn't be repeating stories we've already gotten. Hell, things were already starting to get repetitive by the time Voyager ended.
Bob Orci - TPTB regarding creating canon material - declared all tie-in material developed under his supervision canon (Countdown being specifically mentioned):
http://trekmovie.com/2012/07/17/exc...l-declares-movie-tie-in-comics-game-as-canon/
Meaning - Data revival is canon.
Active borg technology existing a few years down the line, in order to retrofit the Narada, is canon - which is incompatible with what we learned of Caeliar neutralized borg tech AKA the borg will come back.
http://trekmovie.com/2012/07/17/exc...l-declares-movie-tie-in-comics-game-as-canon/
Meaning - Data revival is canon.
Active borg technology existing a few years down the line, in order to retrofit the Narada, is canon - which is incompatible with what we learned of Caeliar neutralized borg tech AKA the borg will come back.
Except he meant it facetiously. This is obvious from the context.
And Orci himsef confirms that he did not actullay mean it when he said that in comment 102 on your same link.
So, no, Star Trek: Countdown is not canon.
Not necessarily. A Singular Destiny revealed that some Borg technology was still present in the post-Caeliar Milky Way Galaxy, with the potential to be re-activated. Borg technology without actual Borg presence is not incompatible with the events of the Destiny trilogy.
From the comments...
Just a pushy interviewer wanting a big headline.Bob Orci said:
It's been awhile since I read Countdown, but I think Narada was actually refitted with a Romulan-built knockoff of Borg technology, created from the study of the real deal. Not actual Borg tech.
And, as Sci pointed out, A Singular Destiny leaves the door open for that kind of thing anyway.
The Typhon Pact novels have certainly dropped hints toward a Countdown-ish future (Spock becoming a legal resident of Romulus in 2283, Picard offered the role of Federation Ambassador etc.) but it's not a sure thing yet.
Likewise a while since I've read 'Countdown' - I recall actual borg tech being used on the Narada in that comic - no cheap knock-off.
As for - 'A singular destiny' - it established the only surviving borg tech was fully inactive and all attempts to activate it will turn it into ash.
If someone actually figures out how to reactivate borg tech - easy coming back card for the borg.
Hopefully, they won't go all the way - Data's resurrection, Vulcan-Federation relationship making the Andor-Federation one look healthy, borg - really, these are not good creative decisions.
I read the first issue of Hive, and I thought it was ok. I do have a few questions about some things in the issue
I know a lot of ST stuff not on TV/movies isn't in continuity with each other (some books/comics are, like the Shatner books and some of the more recent books, but this comic is confusing me. Why is seven a Borg again? I haven't been able to read any of the newer Voyager Novels (and by new I mean anything older than the novels set before the end of the series) but, looking at Memory beta, even in the books shes not a borg again (her article on MB was confusing enough, talking about some alien species removing her borg implants, but she was definately not a borg). Just from the first issue of Hive I'm pretty sure that, reguardless of the intent, in my head I'll just classify it as a fantasy ST story (like the silver age Superman comics having Lois/Jimmy dream stories that would never happen). For my own personal fandom of Star Trek, I count the TV shows/movies as canon (of course) and the better newer books (like Destiny, which I need to finish, the Typhoon pack books, the DS9 after series books, etc) as what came after the various series ended, along with some of the better older books. I wish ST had been a bit more like star Wars, where 90% of the things published are in continuity. When it comes to expanded content, I like the sT stuff, but it can't match the SW stuff (the Star Wars expanded universe, to me, is much more entertaining than any of the movies, and only sucks when Lucas takes a hand in it, like the Clone Wars movie/cartoon).
While I love comics, I rarely read ST comics, so I don't usually think about if they have their own continuity. I am curious what continuity this is connected to that has Seven as a borg. Is it the IDW comics in general? I guess they wouldn't follow the continuity of the books, but this is just weird, and they didn't explain why she was a borg again, they acted like you should just know. I was especially confused because the cover of the issue has her in her normal look, with some borg implants but not a borg, and in a Starfleet uniform, so that made me even more confused. Does anyone know the story behind her being a full borg in this comic?
While I love comics, I rarely read ST comics, so I don't usually think about if they have their own continuity. I am curious what continuity this is connected to that has Seven as a borg. Is it the IDW comics in general? I guess they wouldn't follow the continuity of the books, but this is just weird, and they didn't explain why she was a borg again, they acted like you should just know. I was especially confused because the cover of the issue has her in her normal look, with some borg implants but not a borg, and in a Starfleet uniform, so that made me even more confused. Does anyone know the story behind her being a full borg in this comic?
^The IDW comics have no consistent continuity. Aside from the ongoing movie-universe comic and the various interconnected John Byrne miniseries, IDW's miniseries and one-shots are generally completely self-contained. I'm sure the particular change you mention is specific to the timeline this comic is set in, and it's probably meant to be a mystery whose explanation will be given in upcoming issues.
Indeed, Braga discussed that particular spoiler in a recent interview as one of the stories this series is telling. Answers will come in the following issues.
Had turned it to ash. Not "will."
A Singular Destiny leaves the door open to the possibility of Borg-less Borg technology eventually becoming functional. It doesn't establish that it will, but the door is open.
There are a thousand ways the authors of the novels could bring the Borg back if they wanted; no one is contesting that. It would just be a bad idea.
The "why" I believe is answered in the next issue but it's already been spoilt by the author in interviews.
Yeah, I definitely got the impression that was done in classic cliffhanger style, to make the reader go "why?!?" and come back next issue to find out. We're not supposed to know yet. (Which makes me glad I haven't read those interviews JoeZhang mentioned!)
I was going by your "make of that what you will" comment and asked a question given your adamant assertion that television producers don't ever read books. Ever.
Anyway, the comic at hand, I picked it up earlier and I really liked it, having only ever really taken the time to buy and subsequently read the Doctor Who/Next Generation cross over, I don't have much to base this on, but I thought the art work was a lot better than that. I'm intrigued by the story and the fact that
Seven has been reassimilated -my money is on she and the other Borg could be from an alternate timeline.
Having the Borg recreate Data was interesting aswell and should be interested to see where that is going
Having the Borg recreate Data was interesting aswell and should be interested to see where that is going
I also liked the seventh fleet and trying to recognise the different Starships, The Titan looked a bit elongated and I'm sure a couple of the ships were from the Full Circle Fleet which were both little tips of the hat to the Novelverse.
I'm rather looking forward to seeing where this is all going.
Drago-Kazov
Fleet Captain
Any chance for a Titan comic?
According to Andy Mangels, who talked to IDW about one, no.
He tried pitching several times, IIRC, both before and after the severing of the Mangels & Martin writing partnership.
Drago-Kazov
Fleet Captain
Too bad, he wrote a great Fett comic.
One of his pitches even had Tim Russ involved, but they still turned him down.