Picard Responsible for More Borg Related Deaths?

[Ssosmcin]

I was watching First Contact for the millionth time and one of the things that bugged me was the battle. Not because it was too short (it was) and not in the finale (yeah), but because of the ships that were destroyed seemingly as a result of Picard's actions (or inactions).

Picard gives the order for everyone to target their weapons in the "special blow 'em up spot." Riker reports everyone is ready and Picard...pauses. As he does so, we see the Borg have time to fire off another bolt and obliterate one more starship.

Then, when the cube does go up, one of the starships is caught in the explosion and is blown to smithereens.

Now, I can see the second ship being totally not his fault. The helmsman should have pulled the hell up. At the same time, their engines might have taken damage and the captain's last words were "God damn Picard and his fricking plannnnnns!"

The first time, though, the ship got wasted because Picard hesitated. Was he waiting for the right moment? And why? Or is Picard responsible for these lost lives?

Thoughts?

 

[The Borg Queen]

That ship was obviously crewed entirely by Redshirts, so their lives/deaths are irrelevant.

 

[MacLeod]

Picard might have been waiting to the fleet was in the right positions in order for a concentrated barrage of fire. The fleet had acknowledged his command and orders, it doesn't mean they were in the right positions in order to impliment the order, that second or so delay would allow ships to be in position.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

The Borg Queen said:
That ship was obviously crewed entirely by Redshirts, so their lives/deaths are irrelevant.

Isn't it yellowshirts in the 24th century?

 

[TheMurph]

MacLeod said:
Picard might have been waiting to the fleet was in the right positions in order for a concentrated barrage of fire. The fleet had acknowledged his command and orders, it doesn't mean they were in the right positions in order to impliment the order, that second or so delay would allow ships to be in position.

Thats makes enough sense that it is crazy enough to work. I've wondered the same thing the OP mentioned for awhile now and never thought of this.

:::smacks head and utters D'oh!:::

 

[Huntingdon]

Or he was waiting for the Borg to transfer power at that particular moment which weakened them. There are several plausible explanations for the delay.

 

[MacLeod]

Peach Wookiee said:

The Borg Queen said:
That ship was obviously crewed entirely by Redshirts, so their lives/deaths are irrelevant.

Isn't it yellowshirts in the 24th century?

Well at least by the mid-late 24th Century.

 

[14thDoctor]

Maybe it wasn't just the location of the shot that was important, but also the timing. Perhaps that one spot was vulnerable, but particularly vulnerable after the Cube fired?

 

[MacLeod]

The delay can easily be explained away if youthink about it.

 

[14thDoctor]

MacLeod said:
The delay can easily be explained away if youthink about it.

Probably why I never thought about it until someone mentioned it here.

 

[Good Will Riker]

MacLeod said:
The delay can easily be explained away if youthink about it.

Yes, because actor Patrick Stewart was staring at a blue screen and those guys at ILM who were in charge of the special-effects didn't take into consideration "the dramatic pause" while they were too busy blowing shit up...

 

[Trekker4747]

Picard could hear the Borg's voices, he was likely waiting for "just the right moment" to fire.

As for the ship caught in the explosion, I believe "offical" records say that that ship was only heavily damaged and not destroyed.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Trekker4747 said:
As for the ship caught in the explosion, I believe "offical" records say that that ship was only heavily damaged and not destroyed.

Bullshit!

We know what we saw.

 

[Unicron]

^ Yeah, it seems like it gets pretty well engulfed in the fireball to me.

 

[Aldo]

Well, what we didnt see, is at the second the fireball hit the ship, the ship ducked into a Borg conduit.
Thus avoiding destruction.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Unicron said:
^ Yeah, it seems like it gets pretty well engulfed in the fireball to me.

Even if she's engulfed, her shields are designed to handle the concentrated energy of phasers and disruptors. An explosion is relatively attenuated by compariosn, I'd think. Maybe she could survive it.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Well, that one obliterated had fair warning.

 

[Mysterion]

Actually, IMO, Picard has some culpability for anyone killed by the Borg inthe Alpha Quadrant from "I, Borg" forward.

 

[Anwar]

Why? The invasive program wouldn't have worked.

 

[splodenode]

why wouldnt it have worked?