About the Borg's apperance....

[The Wormhole]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Denobulans can resist Borg assmiliation long enough to pruge the nono-probes from their own body.

 

[JayOwl]

I prefer the new look, it's more scary. However it is confusing. The thing about asexual drones dosn't explain much because none of the voyager crew/ TNG crew in first contact seem to show any suprise to them looking different. Plus Picard looks like the 'Asexual' Drones when he was assimulated. It's a nice try for an explaination but all it is really is that they had a larger budget for first contact.

Did you know that they original planned to make the borg insects (Hive mind) but due to budget made them the way they were

 

[Horga'hn]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Denobulans can resist Borg assmiliation long enough to pruge the nono-probes from their own body.

As I recall, the main character in the Borg PC game was of a species which could enter a sort of trance, which allowed him to retain his psyche through the assimilation process.

 

[Sci]

This really makes the Borg less frightening as enemies. Genocidal maniacs on a rampage are dull;

And yet the Federation has never actually faced a genocidal power capable of annihilating all life within the Federation before. And I dare say that the Borg in Star Trek: Destiny are much more frightening, and make for much better villains, than they have in any Star Trek story since "Scorpion" or Star Trek: First Contact. The Federation has really never faced its own imminent genocide before.

Why would something as old as the Borg change merely because it met a bald human and then a redheaded one?

The destruction of the transwarp conduit network in "Endgame." It rendered the Collective unable to use transwarp drive and represented the greatest setback they've had from any species apart from 8472. As such, they came to view the Federation as an existential threat requiring immediate extermination.

 

[Deks]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Denobulans can resist Borg assmiliation long enough to pruge the nono-probes from their own body.

That was only an example on Phlox himself, and not Denobulans as a species in general.
Perhaps his individual immune system was more resistant in comparison to that of other Denobulans.
And furthermore, the nanoprobes would eventually adapt themselves to his physiology and would transmit this data to the Collective, which in the future would not be a problem.
Lucky for him though, the Borg ship that sent the message to the DQ was destroyed, and we don't know if data in question was transmitted as well.

 

[The Wormhole]

The destruction of the transwarp conduit network in "Endgame." It rendered the Collective unable to use transwarp drive and represented the greatest setback they've had from any species apart from 8472. As such, they came to view the Federation as an existential threat requiring immediate extermination.

As I recall, they only destroyed that one Transwarp Hub that was in the nebula. But Seven of Nine noted the Borg had a few others kicking around.

 

[Sci]

The destruction of the transwarp conduit network in "Endgame." It rendered the Collective unable to use transwarp drive and represented the greatest setback they've had from any species apart from 8472. As such, they came to view the Federation as an existential threat requiring immediate extermination.

As I recall, they only destroyed that one Transwarp Hub that was in the nebula. But Seven of Nine noted the Borg had a few others kicking around.

"Endgame" is fairly ambiguous, actually, but I certainly walked away from that episode with the impression that the entire network of transwarp apertures and their hubs had been destroyed, and that's the interpretation that the Destiny trilogy is built on.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Denobulans can resist Borg assmiliation long enough to pruge the nono-probes from their own body.

That was only an example on Phlox himself, and not Denobulans as a species in general.

AFAIK, Phlox assumed that his whole species was resistant to Borg assimilation. He didn't treat it as something unique to himself.

 

[Sci]

Denobulans can resist Borg assmiliation long enough to pruge the nono-probes from their own body.

That was only an example on Phlox himself, and not Denobulans as a species in general.

AFAIK, Phlox assumed that his whole species was resistant to Borg assimilation. He didn't treat it as something unique to himself.

Phlox was also a 22nd Century scientist dealing with technology from the 24th Century that was already hundreds of years more advanced than the 24th Century Federation. We shouldn't treat his speculations as binding.

 

[Arpy]

"It has always bothered me that we might have to accept that the Borg were always supposed to look like how they did in First Contact with no explanation at all except because TNG didn't have a big budget."

No offense to you personally, but it's always bothered me when they try to "explain" the obvious, making farce of it all. Wouldn't we be better served by having the writers create new stories, ever better ones, or have the effects people retouch things than come up with lame fourth-wall shattering excuses for the nature of real-life reality? Make-up gets better, effects get better, cameras get better, language patterns change, social norms change. I don't care as much why Klingons look different between TOS and TNG as much as why they even matter any more. When we saw them last, I had a hard time believing they could even pronounce "phaser," let alone build one.

 

[The Rock]

"It has always bothered me that we might have to accept that the Borg were always supposed to look like how they did in First Contact with no explanation at all except because TNG didn't have a big budget."

No offense to you personally, but it's always bothered me when they try to "explain" the obvious, making farce of it all. Wouldn't we be better served by having the writers create new stories, ever better ones, or have the effects people retouch things than come up with lame fourth-wall shattering excuses for the nature of real-life reality? Make-up gets better, effects get better, cameras get better, language patterns change, social norms change. I don't care as much why Klingons look different between TOS and TNG as much as why they even matter any more. When we saw them last, I had a hard time believing they could even pronounce "phaser," let alone build one.

GRRRR I am offended!!! Jk!!! But I see where you're coming from. You sound like a good guy.

And thank you to everyone else who responded in this thread. Especially the insight from Sci and the recent TNG novels. I really, REALLY wanna read those now! You are all awesome, lol.

 

[Anwar]

The 8472 were also immune to Borg assimilation as well.

My own pet theory is that since most life in the Trekverse was created by the Progenitors, the stuff they all have in common makes them all susceptible to assimilation. Thus since the original Borg race were of the same Progenitor seedings, their methods of assimilation are very effective on everyone. But since the 8472 were from another plane of reality, they evolved independent of the Progenitors and thus they are more immune to the Borg.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Species 8472.

 

[RegFan]

I think the Borg simply adapted to a new technology. The cube that assimilated Annika Hansen and her parents was experimenting on the new technology.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Did they always want the Borg to look like that? Probably not entirely, but, when the movie came around, they figured they could update the design slightly. The lack of explanation makes sense because, although obvious, it's still a more subtle distinction. I don't think you have to explain production changes unless they call attention to it in dialog (like they did in Trials and Tribble-ations for the Klingons).

 

[NIUPonyBoy]

I would have liked to have thought that perhaps there was a species out there with a natural biological resistance to or shear power of will ability to not have the Borg tech take them.

Species 8472.

I am talking about THIS dimension.

 

[JoeFromEarth]

Quick theory:

It didn't look like the borg had nanites during TNG. Perhaps the discolored skin in First Contact is a result of the nanites? Also, a lot of the Borg in First Contact are freshly assimilated. Perhaps they lose that ugly complexion after awhile.

I guess Locutus and Voyager prove me wrong though. Just a though.