Subject: The Borg
Despite Q's assertions that the Borg are "relentless," and those by Captain Picard (as quoted by Captain Janeway) that the Borg are "utterly without mercy," the Borg do seem to enjoy giving the races they assimilate a sporting chance at survival, with a particular soft spot for the Federation.
How else do you explain the fact that they failed to invade the Federation, not only once, but a total of three times?
The first supposed encounter with the Borg occurred in "Q Who."
But...wait a minute. What about those mysterious outposts that disappeared along the Neutral Zone in the aptly titled episode, "The Neutral Zone?" Didn't Worf say in that episode that "it's as though some great force just scooped it off the face of the planet?"
And later, during "Q Who," he makes an almost identical statement about the ravaged planet they find in system J25. Not only that, but Data specifically notes that it is "identical to what happened along the outposts in the Neutral zone."
But that would mean...(gasp!) that the Borg was already present in Federation space, busy assimilating outposts and doing...nothing?? First invasion, failed. Cause? Borg laziness.
So, instead of having their presence already in the Federation do a nice, neat, dare I say "efficient" invasion, they send their invading force 7,000 light years to reach Earth.
Okay, barring that horrible waste of time and resources, we recall what Guinan says in "Q Who."
In that episode, Guinan states that when the Borg destroyed her people, "they swarmed through our system," and "when they come, they're going to come in force. They don't do anything peacemeal."
An now, here we are, one year later at "The Best of Both Worlds", and the grand Borg invasion (second wave, mind you) consists of....one ship. One?? They couldn't spare oh, I dunno, two?
Considering one ship nearly kills the entire Federation, you'd think the Borg would have adapted (that is what they do, after all) and sent a friggin' ARMADA of cubes to wipe the annoying Alpha Quadrant species out once and for all.
But no. The second invasion consists of (drum roll please) one ship! Even watching "First Contact" in the theater, I was cocking my head and making noises like a confused Scooby Doo.
And what brilliant plan does a race of billions with a collective consciousness working on this problem come up with?
"Let's not send more ships, oh no! That's too easy! Let's send a special time-warping sphere!"
So..let me get this straight: You are only interested in species because they have technology you want to assimilate. So your solution to a stubbornly resistant species is to go back in time, where the technology you want doesn't even exist yet, and THEN assimilate everyone.
Oh, and let's not ignore the fact that by making the Borg have a central command processor in the form of a "queen" you basically destroy their whole philosophy of maximum redundancy and collective consciousness without "single leaders who can make mistakes, which is far less likely in the combined whole." Borgies, you're being outsmarted by a half-telepathic shrink. Think about it.
Here's some suggestions I would humbly like to make to the Borg Collective:
1. When you assimilate races with cloaking devices (which presumably exist outside of the Romulan and Klingon Empires somewhere in the galaxy), KEEP THEM.
2. When you assimilate telepathic races, since you have genetic modification technology, maybe you should equip all of your drones with that. Think about it - an entire cube full of Borg who can project their thoughts into the minds of their targets.
Borg: Resistance is futile.
Victim: ....yes...master...
3. You have nanotechnology. That pretty much makes you invincible. Which is more efficient - injecting nanoprobes physically underneath the skin, or creating a nanoprobe "dirty bomb" that you transport over to the target vessel, releasing nanoprobes into the air, thus assimilating an entire ship from the inside out without a single drone being lost?
It is logical to assume that, if I can come up with these ideas without the input of a billion other minds from over 8,000 species (according to Voyager), then they must have as well, and rejected them.
Therefore, the Borg enjoy their sport of assimilation and cannot possibly assimilate the Federation or anyone who's closely associated with the Federation because...um...they're just too cool?
And because they all think Captain Picard is sexy and they want him? (The Borg Queen wanted Picard as a counterpart, and since she IS the Collective, Picard was instantly the most wanted man in the history of everything. We're talking billions, maybe trillions of Borg drones all with the Borg Queen's infatuation.)
That is all for this first post of my "Highly Illogical" critiques of the Next Generation. More to come.
Despite Q's assertions that the Borg are "relentless," and those by Captain Picard (as quoted by Captain Janeway) that the Borg are "utterly without mercy," the Borg do seem to enjoy giving the races they assimilate a sporting chance at survival, with a particular soft spot for the Federation.
How else do you explain the fact that they failed to invade the Federation, not only once, but a total of three times?
The first supposed encounter with the Borg occurred in "Q Who."
But...wait a minute. What about those mysterious outposts that disappeared along the Neutral Zone in the aptly titled episode, "The Neutral Zone?" Didn't Worf say in that episode that "it's as though some great force just scooped it off the face of the planet?"
And later, during "Q Who," he makes an almost identical statement about the ravaged planet they find in system J25. Not only that, but Data specifically notes that it is "identical to what happened along the outposts in the Neutral zone."
But that would mean...(gasp!) that the Borg was already present in Federation space, busy assimilating outposts and doing...nothing?? First invasion, failed. Cause? Borg laziness.
So, instead of having their presence already in the Federation do a nice, neat, dare I say "efficient" invasion, they send their invading force 7,000 light years to reach Earth.
Okay, barring that horrible waste of time and resources, we recall what Guinan says in "Q Who."
In that episode, Guinan states that when the Borg destroyed her people, "they swarmed through our system," and "when they come, they're going to come in force. They don't do anything peacemeal."
An now, here we are, one year later at "The Best of Both Worlds", and the grand Borg invasion (second wave, mind you) consists of....one ship. One?? They couldn't spare oh, I dunno, two?
Considering one ship nearly kills the entire Federation, you'd think the Borg would have adapted (that is what they do, after all) and sent a friggin' ARMADA of cubes to wipe the annoying Alpha Quadrant species out once and for all.
But no. The second invasion consists of (drum roll please) one ship! Even watching "First Contact" in the theater, I was cocking my head and making noises like a confused Scooby Doo.
And what brilliant plan does a race of billions with a collective consciousness working on this problem come up with?
"Let's not send more ships, oh no! That's too easy! Let's send a special time-warping sphere!"
So..let me get this straight: You are only interested in species because they have technology you want to assimilate. So your solution to a stubbornly resistant species is to go back in time, where the technology you want doesn't even exist yet, and THEN assimilate everyone.
Oh, and let's not ignore the fact that by making the Borg have a central command processor in the form of a "queen" you basically destroy their whole philosophy of maximum redundancy and collective consciousness without "single leaders who can make mistakes, which is far less likely in the combined whole." Borgies, you're being outsmarted by a half-telepathic shrink. Think about it.
Here's some suggestions I would humbly like to make to the Borg Collective:
1. When you assimilate races with cloaking devices (which presumably exist outside of the Romulan and Klingon Empires somewhere in the galaxy), KEEP THEM.
2. When you assimilate telepathic races, since you have genetic modification technology, maybe you should equip all of your drones with that. Think about it - an entire cube full of Borg who can project their thoughts into the minds of their targets.
Borg: Resistance is futile.
Victim: ....yes...master...
3. You have nanotechnology. That pretty much makes you invincible. Which is more efficient - injecting nanoprobes physically underneath the skin, or creating a nanoprobe "dirty bomb" that you transport over to the target vessel, releasing nanoprobes into the air, thus assimilating an entire ship from the inside out without a single drone being lost?
It is logical to assume that, if I can come up with these ideas without the input of a billion other minds from over 8,000 species (according to Voyager), then they must have as well, and rejected them.
Therefore, the Borg enjoy their sport of assimilation and cannot possibly assimilate the Federation or anyone who's closely associated with the Federation because...um...they're just too cool?
And because they all think Captain Picard is sexy and they want him? (The Borg Queen wanted Picard as a counterpart, and since she IS the Collective, Picard was instantly the most wanted man in the history of everything. We're talking billions, maybe trillions of Borg drones all with the Borg Queen's infatuation.)
That is all for this first post of my "Highly Illogical" critiques of the Next Generation. More to come.
*wonders why I am a fan*
