That we know of...
What if Riker became Locutus instead of Picard?
- Thread starter Snowdrop82
- Start date
The answer has been bouncing around social media for a few years now:
That..... is amazing. I am truly laughing out loud. i am still giggling while typing this. Perfect.
What if we already had Captain Riker after a tweaked version of Locutus, and he gets promoted to Commodore or something when we find Tom - we get Captain Shelby or Data, with the same Lt Riker.
It has to be assumed that many telepathic species like Betazoids and Vulcanians were assimilated, but apparently the added extra features didn't come with the package.
Erm ... I guess we would have had a Data story trying to step up to the temporary position of XO, and the crew coming to terms with that while also under strain combating the Borg?
(Not sure Picard would be ready to field promote Shelby to XO just yet, she'd stay on as the Borg expert.)
But Deanna can't read minds, just feelings. And feelings may well be deemed utterly irrelevant by the Borg.
'We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. We sense you intend to resist us. Resistance is futile.'
(Not sure Picard would be ready to field promote Shelby to XO just yet, she'd stay on as the Borg expert.)
But Deanna can't read minds, just feelings. And feelings may well be deemed utterly irrelevant by the Borg.
'We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. We sense you intend to resist us. Resistance is futile.'
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Oh, and the resolution probably would've been subtly different as well. Probably Riker wouldn't have made the Borg sleep but distracted them in some other way 
<..>
CRUSHER: Amazing. Even the Borg seem unable to suppress his biological instincts!
RIKER: Yes, Doctor, but if I may make a supposition, I do not believe his message was intended to express sexual desire but to suggest a course of action.
<..>
<..>
CRUSHER: Amazing. Even the Borg seem unable to suppress his biological instincts!
RIKER: Yes, Doctor, but if I may make a supposition, I do not believe his message was intended to express sexual desire but to suggest a course of action.
<..>
I had rewritten the entire scene at first, but later thought better of it and thought the snippet I gave would suffice for just that reason
Borg would have added his distinctiveness to their own and suddenly all had beards.
If the OP's scenario happened that way, we'd still have a somewhat dramatic ending closeup.........this time of Picard. Then he'd say:
''Mr. Worf......we surrender.''
''Mr. Worf......we surrender.''
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It just occurred to me: Picard is French. That should have been the way to defeat the Borg. Once a Borg, he should have surrendered the collective.
The make-up on him would look worse because of his beard. That, or they'd shave it. First Contact would be a lot more Riker-centric. The episode Family would probably not be about family but rather Riker going to Risa.
Other than that? Not much.
Picard and Riker's roles were switched in a revision of the script anyway. Originally Picard would have been down on the planet doing the science and helping Dr Cochrane (his hero) and Riker would have been up on the ship being a badass - less of the psychological drama with the Borg Queen that confronted Picard, more of a military/tactics action-led operation against a faceless Borg collective on the Ent-E.
The Queen was only added after the swap.
2003's unfunny joke wants its decade back.
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