posted
If they are superior (which they are, in some and most points), why have they not conquered a large portion of the galaxy? There was another question, but I forgot, I'll try remembering..
posted
One of the things the Borg seems to have plenty of is patience. In the Delta Quadrant, they seem to assimilate planets and such with many cubes and millions of drones. Meanwhile, the attacks in the Alpha Quadrant have been relatively small, one or two ships at the most. The reasoning behind this is possibly that they would probably have many more resources to efficiently deploy closer to their territory, and relative invulnerability to protect them from anyone but Voyager and ships named Enterprise.
Transwarp drive supposedly would enable them to GET to Earth really quickly in large numbers, but in the event that they had their transwarp disabled, it might present an unacceptable risk to be far out of range. So instead, you bide your time and wait until you can attack targets closer to your territory in large numbers. In the event of Earth, you first send one ship to test their defences, and then another with a dedicated plan. Either would be fully equipped to assimilate a whole planet if necessary (or call in more ships to do so).
The Federation is definitely a threat to the Borg, having been able to thwart them often enough. But this threat is not a direct one, as the Feds don't have the capacity to menace the Borg in their own home territory with a coordinated strike (again, Voyager aside). This is probably whyt he Borg haven't invaded in force yet, as there are probably more pesky unassimilated species closer to home which might represent a clearer danger to them.
posted
Well, not to get this off onto a Voyager rant here, but this is one of the areas in which, IMHO, Voyager really gutted the Borg as an enemy. They made them too powerful, and, at the same time, made them wusses.
In TNG, you had a group of basically unbeatable cyborgs. They didn't show up all that often, but when they did, you died.
At the end of TNG, the got a bit of an overhaul with what Data and Lore did to the individual-ified Borg. Still not bad. We were only looking at one small group of Borg. We didn't know much about the rest of the Collective. They were still a mysterious, dangerous species. Although, now at least some of them have these transwarp tunnels.
Then along comes Voyager. They started out ok with a random encounter with a dead drone and then a marooned group of ex-drones. But all of a sudden, the Borg are everywhere, they can go anywhere in the Galaxy with the hubs, the Queen is trading insults with Janeway and we know pretty much everything there is to know about the Borg. But even with all the abilities they have to travel wherever they want, the Delta Flyer can still take on a cube.
Yah...ok. The Borg just don't have what they used to as a good enemy.
posted
The whole concept of having a "Queen" for the borg is rather ridiculous, if you ask me. It was after her introduction in First Contact that the Borg started to become less of a threat.
I've always wondered why every species that had any form of group consciousness had to have a distinctive spokesman in the first place...if the Collective has developed it's own higher sentience (the sum of it's parts developing a new individual "God-mind", so to speak) then it stands to reason that any member of the Borg could be Puppetted at will by this Higher intelligence.
I gathered that this is essentially what happened when Picard became Locutius (sp?) in Best of Both Worlds. After Picard became borg, he was given some control over the attacking cube...so while he was being used by the higher borg collective brain, he was also using it. Hence those scenes where Picard/Locutius is watching the battle with the Enterprise on that funky projector.
...
If any of that doesn't make sense, I apologize.
I just always felt that having a borg queen only served the purpose of adding some weird ass sexual tension for the scenes with Data in FC. I would have preferred the crew to have to figure everything out themselves, instead of having a borg figurehead explain shit to the audience...but that's just me.
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
The Borg Queen was indeed introduced to give the crew a more tangible enemy to fight. She was a plot device of sorts.
However, it could've worked. I've always preferred to think of the Borg Queen as a manifestation of the Collective. She's not an individual herself, but simply "is the Collective". She is the Collective Consciousness.
However, Voyager pretty much shot that theory to Hell when they had her trade insults with Janeway. They made it this personal grudgematch between them.
quote:Originally posted by thoughtcriminal84: I've always wondered why every species that had any form of group consciousness
I gathered that this is essentially what happened when Picard became Locutius (sp?) in Best of Both Worlds. After Picard became borg, he was given some control over the attacking cube...
Actually, I don't think that was the intent. "Locutus" wasn't a name, it's a description of what his job was. It means "mouthpiece", he who speaks for. He was just the PR end of the Borg.
[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: mrneutron ]
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I've always had a bit of a problem with any Borg drone having a designation of any kind. Assuming the Borg have a single collective consciousness, why would it need such labels? Do you have individual names for every cell in your body?
-------------------- The difference between genius and idiocy? Genius has its limits.
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Yes. I may not be consciously aware of it, but my body "knows," in a sense, where (and what) all of its bits are. That information isn't stored as language, of course. But there's no reason it couldn't be in the Borg.
[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Sol System ]
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, "locutio" apparently means speech or pronunciation. And then there's the word locus, which has a bit of Borgish connotation. My suspicion is that Locutus is a made up word with real Latin roots.
But I don't know Latin from a hole in the ground. Maybe Frank or Tim could say more.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
"Loquitur" is latin stage direction for "he speaks."
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
all of which makes you wonder: Where did the Borg learn Latin? Those scans they did of the Enterprise's computer must've been really complete, seeing as how they not only got tactically useful engineering info, but also dead earth languages...
I wish my downloads were that fast.
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
I think they got it from the same place they got the name "Borg", a derivation of Cyborg, which is a phrase coined on Earth way before humans ever met the Borg.
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