There is no species in Trek that's harder to figure out than the Cardassians.
What civilization/species in Star Trek is, in your opinion, most evil?
- Thread starter BohandiAnsoid
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I'd compare it to the Ancients in SG1. They "ascended" and left their mess behind without a seconds thought.
Armus' species (or at least his kind of sentient life form) would definitely rank at or near the top of my list of most objectively evil alien species, but the Borg can't be far behind. The Queen basically admits in FC, VOY and PIC that enslavement and assimilation of more primitive subject species is not only a good thing but should be imposed on unwilling sentient beings because, well, the Borg are badass and know better than the rest of the universe so fall in line.
That makes Alternate Future Admiral Janeway infection of the Borg Collective with the Neurolytic Pathogen even more justified.
I was under the impression that the Borg basically left primitive species alone since they had nothing to offer. They target Earth in the past as a cheap trick because the Earth of the Present is too strong (and only barely so, the Borg almost had it). Voy showed a lot of primitive societies in the Delta Quadrant didn't they, like how in Stargate there's these socities that are (intentionally or not) primitive to avoid the Wraiths.
But then again I'm still of the opinion that the Borg Queen is an odd inclusion - the borg should be faceless. If I had to justify it, the Borg Queen was some Federation Admiral and the Borg 'adapted' her as a 'face' to deal with humanity, but then why hasn't that situation happened before in other species - or maybe it has, and the Queen is transient.
But then again I'm still of the opinion that the Borg Queen is an odd inclusion - the borg should be faceless. If I had to justify it, the Borg Queen was some Federation Admiral and the Borg 'adapted' her as a 'face' to deal with humanity, but then why hasn't that situation happened before in other species - or maybe it has, and the Queen is transient.
I agree that the Borg Queen was an unnecessary retcon. The Borg were far scarier when they operated as a single hive mind. On the bright side, it gave us Alice Krige in Star Trek.
At least the ENT Borg episode didn't show or even reference a Queen. Just lumbering, thawed-out drones from 90 years earlier who terrorize an Arctic research team and hijack their ship.
Hey if those people were still around maybe the Federation could do that goo guy Armus a a solid and return him to his homeworld /s
No mention of the Dominion/Founders? They seem to have no moral qualms whatosever about wiping out entire races - 800 million Cardassians, for example. Or the use of The Quickening, or trying to destroy the Bajoran sun. Or their use of the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar in the first place.
Nevermind, Donlago mentioned them on page 1, post number 4. But I still think my point stands.
I'm going to vote for the neural parasites from TNG Conspiracy. I mean, there's an argument to be made that they, like any other parasite shown using or feeding on creatures, are just following a natural design, that requires they exact this atrocity on whole species, but not only is that less certain as it is with other victimizers we've seen, they also seemed especially thrilled, particularly to the point of revelling in the fact that they were subjugating and enslaving beings, down to their very core.
They weren't just hunting, consuming, destroying, torturing or otherwise using people. They were choosing to deliberately do maybe all of that, for a seemingly less understood & possibly less necessary reason, & really seemed to enjoy that they were. It's a pretty nasty business, what they were up to, & despite being intelligent, they not only gave zero f**ks, they were actually cruelly loving it
They weren't just hunting, consuming, destroying, torturing or otherwise using people. They were choosing to deliberately do maybe all of that, for a seemingly less understood & possibly less necessary reason, & really seemed to enjoy that they were. It's a pretty nasty business, what they were up to, & despite being intelligent, they not only gave zero f**ks, they were actually cruelly loving it
The Borg, with Cardassian government as a close second (not all Cardassian individuals).
But the thing that I never liked or got wholly with aliens like the Conspiracy bugs is how did they evolve to be what they are. How did they even learn about space travel the first time? The same could be asked about the aliens in Stargate. How did those snakey things conquer whole galaxies? How did they come to doing that the very first time?
Lots of possibilities. Maybe coevolution or they evolved independently on a planet with a species capable of being used by them, who perhaps were already spacefaring, by the time they'd became preyed upon by them, and then, after they'd gone extraplanetary, they began finding others they could do likewise with.
Or, like the Ceti Alpha V parasite, an intelligent race of spacefarers discovered them, began using them for mind control, & then they evolved to overpower the users. They could've even been an engineered genetic experiment.
If they had become reoccurring villains we probably would have found out. Too bad Matalas didn't think to use them instead of the Borg for the millionth time.
One of my issues with Season 3 was dragging the Borg back out for their third use in a row in the same streaming show. The Dominion Changelings were plenty good enough on their own, but no, gotta go back to the well and wring one last drop out of an enemy that hasn't even felt threatening since a standalone prequel episode shot nearly 20 years before.
I sometimes think it's a studio decision. They think of the Borg and Khan as Star Trek's number one enemy and have to vamp them forever. I suspect it's why it's hard getting a Superman movie or show without Lex Luthor in it, too.
There isn't any new angle on the Borg. (technically there are only 24.. thank you I'm here all week). They almost had a new angle on the borg in Pic Season 2, which might have been the only good thing about it, but they dropped that. If Trek survives it will be revisited in some obscure deep dive in 10 years or so.
I'm kind of happy with the novelverse origins for the "Conspiracy" parasites. While it might have been nice if PIC had revisited them, it's hard for me not to think that it might have just been disappointing by comparison.
In re: the Borg
I've long felt that the hive mind of the Borg isn't the collective: It's her. The Queen. Everything they do is because she wants it. And it's always been that way. They weren't the Borg until she became part of the collective.
I've long felt that the hive mind of the Borg isn't the collective: It's her. The Queen. Everything they do is because she wants it. And it's always been that way. They weren't the Borg until she became part of the collective.
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