It's also worth noting that even powered down, the Borg cube had an absolute crap-load of superstructure. The E-D could conceivably have exhausted its compliment of photon torpedoes and still not have completely destroyed the cube completely.
explain the defeat of the Borg in BOBW to me?
- Thread starter sonak
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It's also worth noting that even powered down, the Borg cube had an absolute crap-load of superstructure. The E-D could conceivably have exhausted its compliment of photon torpedoes and still not have completely destroyed the cube completely.
Why would our heroes even have wanted to destroy the Cube? They had it at their mercy - and they are famous for showing said mercy.
Not because they'd feel sorry for the Collective, of course. But they would feel sorry for the assimilees, and would probably hope they could do something to liberate them. More importantly, they would certainly wish to rummage through the Collective's innermost secrets while it was asleep.
Consider that scenario from the POV of the Collective. You have been paralyzed by that annoying little kid who didn't understand that you were only trying to help him. And now the kid is taking advantage of your helpless state by prying into your body orifices! Even a human might consider suicide as an option in that situation, let alone a supposedly more rational entity that actually can commit partial, Cube-by-Cube suicide seemingly at will.
Timo Saloniemi
Not because they'd feel sorry for the Collective, of course. But they would feel sorry for the assimilees, and would probably hope they could do something to liberate them. More importantly, they would certainly wish to rummage through the Collective's innermost secrets while it was asleep.
Consider that scenario from the POV of the Collective. You have been paralyzed by that annoying little kid who didn't understand that you were only trying to help him. And now the kid is taking advantage of your helpless state by prying into your body orifices! Even a human might consider suicide as an option in that situation, let alone a supposedly more rational entity that actually can commit partial, Cube-by-Cube suicide seemingly at will.
Timo Saloniemi
I don't think mercy was the first thing on their minds. What they had was a sleeping giant on Earth's doorstep that could potentially wake up at any time, they knew the Borg could adapt and there was no guarantee the regeneration command would work a second time. Shelby even asked Riker if they should try to stop the self destruct and he said no. In this case, the needs of the billions of lives on Earth (and potentially the entire Federation) were more important than a few thousand Borg.
And back then, they weren't sure that most of the Collective were assimilated people. Most of them (if not all of them before Picard) were supposed to be "born Borg".
Of course, they should have wondered just why the Borg looked just like humans but with mechanical parts....
Of course, they should have wondered just why the Borg looked just like humans but with mechanical parts....
I think it's the whole "self-destruct sequence activated by the Borg's malfunction" line that's ambiguous.
It's just unclear whether this is some kind of malfunction in the Borg's systems because they're all regenerating, or whether this is an automatic and deliberate fail-safe built into Borg ships when they experience this kind of "malfunction."
It should've been a lot clearer. Have Shelby, Data, or Picard explicitly mention that it's a deliberate fail-safe to prevent access to the ship or greater Collective as a whole, rather than indicate it could be some kind of random technical failure, which is just silly considering the level of technological sophistication that the Borg supposedly possess.
It's just unclear whether this is some kind of malfunction in the Borg's systems because they're all regenerating, or whether this is an automatic and deliberate fail-safe built into Borg ships when they experience this kind of "malfunction."
It should've been a lot clearer. Have Shelby, Data, or Picard explicitly mention that it's a deliberate fail-safe to prevent access to the ship or greater Collective as a whole, rather than indicate it could be some kind of random technical failure, which is just silly considering the level of technological sophistication that the Borg supposedly possess.
Personally, I don't think so. This rare once, our heroes were dealing with a truly alien culture. It would be a bit too much to expect them to understand all the mechanisms, actions and choices of that culture at once and correctly. The fuzzier, the better.
In light of later evidence on the Borg, it does seem likely that either the Cube itself would deliberately trigger a self-destruct when rendered so horribly helpless, or then the Collective would decide to scuttle the Cube. It depends on circumstances and the amount of damage inflicted on a Cube whether remote scuttling is going to succeed; in this case, it might have worked a bit more slowly than usual, but would eventually have gotten the job done.
Timo Saloniemi
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