# Voyager and the Borg
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 2, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387 "2001-12-02T00:57:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/1 "2001-12-02T00:57:47Z")
In relation to another post about the Borg…
They did seem to wimp out on Voyager.
Did the Queen infer in _End Game_ that Seven provided some sort of protection because the Queen wanted to “turn” her and destroying Voyager would kill Seven?
Did the writers use the Borg too much because they needed a familiar enemy and Voyager was far away from “known” space; the Borg make for good story telling?
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### Author:  [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/2 "2001-12-02T01:11:49Z")
I think that they used the Borg because fans liked them and Voyager had been tossed to the place that they originated. I never watched Voyager much, mostly because Janeway pissed me off.
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### Author:  [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/3 "2001-12-02T01:20:37Z")
I always felt that on Voyager the Borg were declawed. When the first appeared on TNG they were damn scary enemies. They were invincible, uncaring, unstoppable. Then Voyager came along and humanized them. In the episodes with the Queen I was afraid she’d say something like “We are the Borg, let’s discuss our problems over some international coffee”. The first Cube that the Enterprise ran into (thanks to Q) would have assimilated Voyager before the opening credits ended.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/4 "2001-12-02T01:33:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Spudo \*
> \*\* The first Cube that the Enterprise ran into would have assimilated Voyager before the opening credits ended. \*\*
And do you think they didn’t because the Queen didn’t want Seven of Nine whacked?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/5 "2001-12-02T01:43:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Spudo \*
> > The first Cube that the Enterprise ran into would have assimilated Voyager before the opening credits ended.
>
> And do you think they didn’t because the Queen didn’t want Seven of Nine whacked? \*\*
_Voyager_ encountered the Borg long before Seven came aboard. If the writers had written the Borg as they did in TNG, the show would have ended in the 3rd season (I think…I can’t remember **exactly** when they first ran into the Borg).
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/6 "2001-12-02T02:03:29Z")
When Seven was first recontacted by the Borg queen, the queen told Seven she was going to use her to carry an infectious version of the Borg nanoprobes back to the Federation. The slow-acting nanoprobes would lie dormant for years before finally assimilating billions back in the Alpha Quadrant. Umm… they _did_ check Seven to make sure she wasn’t infectious- didn’t they?
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### Author:  [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/7 "2001-12-02T02:26:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> check Seven to make sure she wasn’t infectious
There seemed to be a lot of episodes where the writers used Seven’s nanoprobes as a cure-all. Wouldn’t those people already be infected?
And how exactly are these nanoprobes transmitted? 😉
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/8 "2001-12-02T05:51:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And how exactly are these nanoprobes transmitted?
Via tubes extruded from the hand.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Voyager for the shift in the Borg mythos. Next Gen did that with their second appearance. In their initial appearance the Borg were described as being interested in assimilating technology only. This was supported by implication by a number of incidents in which technology was taken from various Federation outposts and colonies. Then, In BoBW, the Borg suddenly decided they were about assimilating people as well as technology. First Contact clearly established the Borg as being almost exclusively interested in assimilating people. In various Voyager episodes, passing reference was made to technology attracting the Borg to one species or another, and the Voyager crew had fits about the idea of “29th Century Borg” contacting the collective and allowing them to assimilate his advanced technology. But for the most part Voyager Borg were more interested in people than tech, which is where the Borg were left by pre-Voyager continuity.
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/9 "2001-12-02T05:59:09Z")
Also, let us not forget that Voyager was a generation beyond the Enterprise E in technology. Though smaller, it would have had updated-to-battle-the-borg technology incorporated such as sheild modulators, enhanced phasers and photon torpedoes, etc.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/10 "2001-12-02T06:41:04Z")
I always assumed the Borg assimilated the assimilate biological beings technology from another species. They then updated their strategy for creating/replacing drones.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/11 "2001-12-02T11:01:40Z")
It always seemed odd to me that the Borg didn’t want to assimilate the Kazon even if they had nothing to offer in the way of technology.
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### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/12 "2001-12-02T12:14:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Number Six \*
> \*\*Also, let us not forget that Voyager was a generation beyond the Enterprise E in technology. Though smaller, it would have had updated-to-battle-the-borg technology incorporated such as sheild modulators, enhanced phasers and photon torpedoes, etc. \*\*
Oooh, I think you’re wrong on that count. Voyager was lost in 2371, the same year the Enterprise-D would be lost. Making Voyager probably a few month behind the E-E.
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### Author:  [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/13 "2001-12-02T12:49:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Spudo \*
> > \*\* The first Cube that the Enterprise ran into would have assimilated Voyager before the opening credits ended. \*\*
>
> And do you think they didn’t because the Queen didn’t want Seven of Nine whacked? \*\*
I think that if the Borg were the same as they were in TNG they would have assimilated Voyager and brought Seven of Nine back to the Queen unharmed. The Borg are’t always destruction minded, blowing stuff up at random, they’re methodical, wanting instead to assimilate rather than kill when possible. I think the one thing that really killed the Borg for me was the whole Unimatrix 0 thing. Talk about taking a good badguy and making them really lame.
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### Author:  [@ignatzmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatzmouse)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/14 "2001-12-02T18:21:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Did the Queen infer in End Game that Seven provided some sort of protection because the Queen wanted to “turn” her and destroying Voyager would kill Seven?
Not to be picayune, but if anything, the queen would have **implied** this. One implies when speaking or writing; one infers when listening or reading. Another way of looking at it is that one infers what someone else has implied.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/15 "2001-12-02T19:57:39Z")
Thank you.
Now go back and play with Krazy Kat.
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/16 "2001-12-02T21:24:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Osiris \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Number Six \*
> > \*\*Also, let us not forget that Voyager was a generation beyond the Enterprise E in technology. Though smaller, it would have had updated-to-battle-the-borg technology incorporated such as sheild modulators, enhanced phasers and photon torpedoes, etc. \*\*
>
> Oooh, I think you’re wrong on that count. Voyager was lost in 2371, the same year the Enterprise-D would be lost. Making Voyager probably a few month behind the E-E. \*\*
D’oh! You’re right of course. I was referring to the Enterprise from TNG, which was the Enterprise D. Enterprise E wasn’t really a new generation starship, though, just the latest off the line in the Galaxy class. Voyager was the newest generation of starship at the time of it’s launch, but was subsequently surpassed during the time it was lost.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/17 "2001-12-02T22:28:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Number Six \*
> \*\*Enterprise E wasn’t really a new generation starship, though, just the latest off the line in the Galaxy class. Voyager was the newest generation of starship at the time of it’s launch, but was subsequently surpassed during the time it was lost. \*\*
Wasn’t the E-E a Sovereign class ship? Which would make it **not** the latest off the line of the Galaxy class, but a new class in itself.
Although I have to admit, I don’t particularly care for the Sovereign class aesthetically.
jayjay
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### Author:  [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/18 "2001-12-02T22:33:28Z")
Also keep in mind that humans were one of the very few races that were successful in fighting off the Borg, so the Borg would be very interested in assimilating them to find out how and move closer to their goal of “perfection.” The Borg Queen was, well, just silly given the nature of the Borg, but, if we have to talk about her, then, from her own personal perspective, assimilating Voyager would be quite a _coup_, and, as already stated, she hand-picked Seven from the very beginning to “infilatrate” Voyager.
Esprix
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/19 "2001-12-02T22:41:33Z")
Oh, my goddess…it took **Esprix** 17 posts and almost 24 hours to respond to a thread with Jeri Ryan in it. I’m sure that’s a sign of the Apocalypse… 😃
jayjay
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voyager-and-the-borg/96387/20 "2001-12-03T21:02:22Z")
I agree that the Borg were overused in Voyager, but I don’t think it was entirely their fault. As noted above, the existence of the Borg Queen was not only goofy, it also made the Borg a lot less frightening in the abstract, beacuse now there was someone you could reason with. (As Janeway did in fact do at the end of Voyager’s third season.) Before the queen, the Borg were a force of nature; afterwards they were just these guys, you know? So most of the blame goes to TNG which defanged the Borg (so as to make a good two-part episode, **Descent** , and a ripping good movie, **First Contact** ) well before Voyager got there.
–Cliffy
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