Klingon/Borg...story wise

[RobertScorpio]

These two races are probably two of most developed races on Trek. I have read in other posts that many of you either like or do not like how they have fared over the years...So where do you think they succeeded or went off track with these two?

For me? I think the Klingons weathered the writing of Trek better than the Borg. Many of you don't seem to like how they were tamed over time, but I do. I think TNG-DS9 did great justice to the Klingons. The whole 'worf' arc was well done, for the most part. And by the time we get to DS9 and he becomes Martok's buddy, and more importantly, the Federation Ambassador, Worf went full circle.

Yes, they were bad-assed at one point. But had they just stayed that way it would have gotten tired. They evolved and I think that is writing at its best. All of that was ruined, IMO, by Enterprise/Nemesis/Insurrection. But, for me, I just forget those things ever happened and believe that Worf became the Ambassador and thats it. His family name was given back to him, by Martok, and it all ended happily.

The Borg? I have made my views on this on several other posts. But in a nutshell? They started to have bumps in the road on TNG, specifically the whole Lore two-parter. Thought it was awful. And though I liked FC, I have always hated the introduction of the Queen. It gave the Borg someone we could negotiate with. To me that gutted the whole Zombie aspect. Unlike the Klingons, the Borg should never have evolved into nice guys. Guinan/Q suggest the Borg had been this relentless force for thousands of centuries and one meeting with Picard changed them? I doubt it.

They were at their best when they just kept coming after you like a band of Terminators. No negotiation. NO voice to talk to. Just a swarm of Zombies out to take over the galaxy; Resistance is futile.

So...my report card on these two Trek races?

Klingons...B+. Most of it was well done. Some of it wasn't, (Enterprise-Movies) but..yeah..I liked it!

Borg...C-. So much promise, so much potential. They were a scary, a stiff in your face enemy. They were turned into your typical fluffy alien race, and not even Viagra could stiffen them up again.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I never really tired of the Borg. They were at their best in "Q Who?", "The Best of Both Worlds", "Scorpion". But I enjoyed "I Borg", "Descent I", "Dark Frontier", "Regeneration" and "Unimatrix Zero I".

I think they fared better simply because they were used in interesting ways in those appearances(this unstoppable force in their first three appearances, meeting their match with 8472, learning there is a secret resistance movement in this dream realm that could bring the Collective down from the inside) and they were just a fascinating race that merely by their presence in the story captured your attention.

The Klingons were interesting on TOS and TNG as we learned about their society and mindset in episodes like Heart of Glory, A Matter of Honor, Sins of the Father, Redemption. The interesting thing about their use on DS9 was how the writers used the fact that we knew this established race so well by that point that they could use them to examine reactions to the Dominion threat in comparison to other Alpha Quadrant powers from pulling out from the treaty with the Federation to coming running back to the Federation to forging an alliance.

I also enjoyed how with Martok and Worf off on the Rotarran it afforded another perspective in the War although I found the Klingon episodes that featured this on the whole to be sort of pedestrian(Soldiers of the Empire, Sons and Daughters).

However, the Klingon schtick grows boring especially when it is repeated over and over in uninteresting ways which we'd see here and there in episodes like Birthright and the aforementioned Soldiers of the Empire for instance.

VOY really didn't have the Klingons at their disposal except for Prophecy in season seven. All they really had was B'elanna and I found her to be one of the more middling characters in execution.

ENT was hit-or-miss mostly miss with their use. I thought the KLingons were just plot devices in Broken BOw but were used effectively in that role. I enjoyed their story the best in Affliction/Divergenvce in season four.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I just felt the Borg were tamed to quickly in the Trekverse. I liked THEM better as the unstoppable force, not species 90210

Be'lana suffered from 7/9's entrance I think. I liked 7/9, don't get me wrong, but I think the other characters suffered...

And as for the Klingons? Yeah, Enterprise never got them right, IMO. DS9 was 'over' their soap opera antics, for the most part, and just used them as characters. I thought the marriage episode between Jadzia and Mr. Wolf was just great..

 

[hellsgate]

I'd like to see the Borg return to being exactly that. The ultimate hunter-gatherers. No Mercy, no Excuses, No Bulls--t. I could see the Borg taking back the Klingon Empire & others by taking apart the planet called Chal from the Shatnerverse.

All the advanced data the Romulans and Klingons gathered about each other & their Human prisoners to build the "Children Of Heaven" during the 2260's/2270's (and since then) would be the death warrant of both empires & then The Federation.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Klingons: going overboard on the "colorful space pirates" routine that makes them cute and blunts their edge. In a way, I miss those guys from TOS. They weren't fancy-looking but you could tell they were crazy badasses.

Borg: turning them into jokes by having them beaten by Our Heroes too often. The way to rehabilitate them is to make assimilation PERMANENT. No exceptions. Once you're assimilated there is never, ever, ever any cure.

 

[Darth_Pazuzu]

I agree with RobertScorpio that the Klingons and the Borg are well-developed Trek races, but I personally believe that the most well-developed aliens are the Cardassians! Let's face it, at least within the "official" Trek canon (meaning five live-action series, one animated series and ten films), we certainly know more about the Cardassians than we do about the Romulans or even the Vulcans!