In this respect the encounter with the Borg worked both as an exciting cliffhanger and as a set-up for a critical transition in the series.Īs important as this moment was in the development of Voyager, it was also a dangerous one because it provided the writers with a crutch upon which to lean for the remainder of the series when they were short on original ideas.Īnd thus as we peer over the wall of “Scorpion” we see the landscape extending off into the distance littered with episodes featuring Borg. The addition of a Borg crew member gave the series a dynamic that had been missing in the first three seasons. It also gave the show a gift in the form of Seven of Nine. “Scorpion” did more for Voyager than just bring back a popular enemy from Star Trek’s past. So their frequent appearance forced the Borg into situations in which they had to be inferior to our heroes. The point is that the Borg couldn’t simply show up over and over doing the “Best of Both Worlds” we’re-going-to-assimilate-you routine and work as a viable part of Voyager. Species 8472 was a great concept that sadly got relegated to nothing more than a plot device to set up a bond between Voyager and the Borg. “Blood Fever” and “Unity” had teased us and it now appeared that fans were going to get something that they really wanted-the first good look at the Borg since the film First Contact.īut then the writers immediately took the next step in the weakening of the Borg, introducing a foe so powerful that the Collective was virtually defenseless against this enemy. In the Season 3 finale “Scorpion” the Borg came back in force with one of the great opening sequences in Star Trek. At the same time, however, it was also the start of something else Voyager did to the Borg, which was to defang them and make them weak. Just as The Next Generation had done for the Klingons and Deep Space Nine had done for the Cardassians, Voyager had the opportunity to bring depth to the Borg and explore their culture. On the one hand this was promising because it appeared that on the Borg’s home ground we would see a new exploration of this alien race. Showing their hand early, the writers center this story around a group of aliens who were once Borg but are adapting to life separated from the Collective. Then a couple of episodes later in “Unity” Voyager encounters a Borg cube adrift in space. The first appearance of the Borg on Voyager came in the third-season episode “Blood Fever” in the form of a corpse. So perhaps the real question isn’t the frequency with which the Borg are used but rather how they are used. This pales in comparison to the Klingons who appeared 31 times in The Next Generation and 49 times in Deep Space Nine, yet we think of neither of these as Klingon series. That’s quite an impression.Ī similar effect took place on Voyager, with the Borg appearing in only 22 of the show’s 168 episodes yet leaving many fans feeling that the show is all about the Borg. But the Borg only appeared in six of the 176 episodes and four movies produced for TNG. When you think of The Next Generation, you think of the Borg. From the moment they first appeared in the Next Generation episode “Q Who?” the presence of the Borg has been one of the strongest things in all of Star Trek. They say you only get one chance to make a first impression and the Borg make a hell of one. So just how often were the Borg actually used on Voyager? Perception is as important as reality, and often what we perceive to be true is not.
But it went further than that, and the Borg began appearing every time the writers needed a big story. Certainly the inclusion of Seven of Nine as a member of the crew meant that there would be a permanent presence of Borg elements. The problem is that the Borg became so much a part of Voyager’s image that at times they overwhelmed the show. So it should come as no surprise to the viewer that these powerful and popular villains from TNG became a recurring theme on a show about the Delta Quadrant. After all, we learned in The Next Generation that the Borg originated in the Delta Quadrant. It was only fitting, and indeed expected, that Voyager would at some point encounter the Borg. So let’s take a look at the Borg on Voyager and find out just to what extent their nanoprobes infiltrated this chapter in the Star Trek saga. However, when I really stop and think about how the Borg were used on the show, and the episodes in which they appeared, I realize this may not be the case.
I myself have said on a number of occasions that this is the case. But is this really true? Was Voyager really assimilated by the Borg? If there’s one distinct impression that Star Trek: Voyager left on the audience, it’s that perhaps the series should have been called Star Trek: Borg. We will add your series distinctiveness to our own. Lower your shields and surrender your episodes.
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