posted
I never minded the Queen in FC. I didn't like what they did with her in Voyager, though. I never minded the thought of the Queen being the manifestation of the Colelctive Consciousness, but having her be an individual, separate and above the Collective ruined the whole thing for me.
Along the lines of the "increasing the lifespan" theory, I've always pictured the Borg as having started out as a species like any other. I think the Queen told Data that they were "once like you" or something, indicating that they were once alot more organic and individual than they are now. I think that that species overdeveloped their technology and dependance on computer systems. Perhaps in one bold move to try and stop war and crime and disease, they linked themselves to central computer, much like the small group did in "Unity". With the benefits of a collective will they continued to grow and assimilate until the original race was simply swallowed up. It wouldn't surprise me if even the Borg don't remember where they started.
posted
Harry, remember Data: Resistance is NOT futile... Kabooom. End of Borg
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
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Member # 709
posted
i could almost see them starting as a crazy cult of some sort of technology-spiritualists.. the queens diatribes in First Contact seemed very dogmatic
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
I prefer what I think Gene Roddenberry's concept of them was: That the Borg once were a purely organic race that began using mechanical devices to improve themselves. At first they were separate entities, the mechanicals and organics. But then they started using cybernetic devices to improve themselves, only it got out of hand. They lost their "humanity". At some point they did what Sol suggested. Their species evolved into a collective conciousness and then into an assimilating one. Think; Data, Geordi (FC,I), Bynars, Borg.
This way, it illustrates another warning (which was GR's way) about not losing our humanity in the face of technology. Also, it means that the Borg's state is their own fault, which is always better drama. And it gives them a suitably long period of time to evolve that way, they could've been Geordi's when the Vaadwaur encountered them.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
That article linked by Sol was VERY interesting...
I'm reminded of the little data port that we've seen used on "Andromeda" from time to time (didn't we see something like it in "A Simple Investigation" too?). It's basically a temporary neural link from the brain into the computer network, which expands and intensifies the brain's contacts and capabilities. Basically, the concept of Intelligence Amplification.
While not exactly related, I'm also reminded of a bit of technology from the novel "Conqueror's Pride" by Timothy Zahn. It's basically another form of IA, but the twist is that the humans using the computer interface became "addicted" to the experience and spent more and more time connected to the net.
Take these two ingredients one step further, and start with two people linking their minds together through the computer network... and viola, you get a Borg Collective.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I think the Queen's line was "...humans, we used to be exactly like them" From this you could say that the original Borg (Species 01 I presume) were wholey organic beings dedicate to science and exploration but somewhere along the way as Gene said they became over reliant on technology, lost their humanity along the ability or the desire to procreate and ended up preying on other species to survive. There are quite a few examples of aliens that use other species to increase their own numbers, those invisible things that convert alien DNA into their own "Identity Crisis"(TNG), that delta quadrant race that reanimates the dead bodies of aliens, those women who have Harry Kim spots...
posted
The franchise did bring back the Andorians, so we never know...
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
I feel compelled to point out that onToMars description of Gene Roddenberry's idea of the Borg is pretty much exactly the same idea that was behind the Cybermen from Doctor Who. About twenty years earlier.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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posted
I could be wrong about this, but I could swear I've read that Roddenberry thought that the Borg came from Decker and Ilia fusing with V'ger... the machine race realizing that it could not evolve without a certain quality only possessed by organic life forms...
posted
That sounds interesting. I would be really keen to know where that came from. Could anyone back that up?
@David: You know I was only being sarcastic, don't you? Hence the " "smiley.
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Roddenberry's statement, as far as I know, was that the Borg took the probe and made it as we saw it in TMP. He was also joking.
HOWEVER, the Shatner/Reeves-Stevens "Return of Kirk" books actually go even further with that, when the Borg invade and Kirk & Picard actually have something in common. Personally, I like what they did and thought it worked. But unfortunetley, its noncanon.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
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