Mav Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 After winding down season 3's ending and season 4's opening of TNG (it's been years since I saw them on tv so the dvd rips were a nice refresher) I finally thought of something; Why one Cube? A few things stuck in my head when I thought that question. For one, Voyager's experiences always seemed to revolve not around just one Cube but several if not a small armada of them. And while I thought of that I remembered when Q first introduced humans to the Borg, he dumped us far into (I wanna say..) Delta Quadrant right? Which at max warp would have taken the Enterprise around 2 years time to get to the nearest starbase. Which means in show time, two seasons later, one Cube (possibly the same Cube) shows up for the battle of Wolf 359. It lead to two conclusions on my end: 1) If it was the same Cube, that partially explains why just one. They may or may not have spread word to the rest of the Collective (i.e. other Cubes and the homeworlds). This lead me to think maybe they were arrogant. While your typical drone doesn't show emotion, there are instances where they do. Obviously the Queen is the most major one, and if I recall right from First Contact, she did exist in some form or other when Picard was Loctus (though that was after the battle of Wolf 359, technically). Also 7 of 9 when disconnected from the Collective, began showing emotion, mainly anger, pride and arrogance (though to credit that was probably her human side starting to come out). 2) If it was not the same Cube nor a sense of arrogance from them, why only one? Obviously the "one" turned out to be enough cause hey, it ripped through the majority of the entire fleet (if I recall they got together roughly 40 ships, plus a few Klingon ships to help). While the one ship did lose in the end, let's assume they never captured Picard. Then Geordi and Wes's plan to hit them with the deflector beam thing, would have destroyed them as they wouldn't have known about it before hand thanks to no knowledge from Picard. So the one ship would have been destroyed, long before it came close to Earth. Which leads me to wonder, is a related questions; Is it because Borg space is mostly in the Delta and Beta quadrants the reason why they only send one ship at a time? (Best of Both Worlds, First Contact, etc) If so that's reasonable, as both are quite far from the Terran system and Earth itself. If not, then why haven't they just sent an ass load of Cubes to assimilate us or kill us? It wouldn't even take a fleet of Cubes, like 3 or 4 could dessimate everything we as the Alpha Quadrant had. Speaking of the Alpha Quadrant, how would the Dominion have faired aganist the Borg? I don't think it'd be possible for them to assimilate a Changeling but I'm sure the Borg can kill one (which is their way after all, assimilate it or kill it). While the Dominion is large in number (we'll say it includes Cardassia at this time) between the Jem Ha'dar, Founders, Vorta, Cardassia, Breen, etc they still would fall to the adaptation abilities and offensive power to of the Borg. With that in mind, I think if the Borg launched a large scale attack on the Alpha Quadrant when the Dominion War was still going on we'd see some rather interesting alliances possibly take place. Who'd side with who? Would the Federation extend a peaceful hand to the Founders to deal with the Borg? Would let we the Borg wipe out the Dominion? Part of me wishes instead of Enterprise, they had done a spinoff of something different like the warship they invented for the Dom. War (the Prometheus I think) but have the entire show deal with the Borg, with the occasional splash of exploration for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Enigma Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I don't think the Borg were arrogant, they have vastly superior ships. The Federation had enough trouble defeating one borg cube. While it would ensure victory, sending more than one cube or an entire fleet of cubes would be overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mav Posted January 9, 2006 Author Share Posted January 9, 2006 I don't think the Borg were arrogant' date=' they have vastly superior ships. The Federation had enough trouble defeating one borg cube. While it would ensure victory, sending more than one cube or an entire fleet of cubes would be overkill.[/quote'] I thought that might be some what why, at first. But like every other time, it's always one Cube with a specific task that it can never complete. In BoBW, one Cube to assimilate Earth, failed. In First Contact, one Cube/Sphere to time travel back and assimilate Earth in the past, failed. Every other instance I know of (besides the Lore or Hugh stuff) had multiple Cubes or involved Borg areas of space. If anything hammered home the annhilation a fleet of Cubes would bring, it would be Voyager trying to avoid 3 or 4 Cubes at all costs when 1 would have wiped the field with them sadly ;\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 In terms of the show - obviously, they didn't want it to become Star Trek: The Assimilated Generation and that's pretty much what would have happened if one cube had been enough and/or they sent multiple cubes. Like all bad guys, the Borg face that one unbeatable foe - the writer. To be honest, they never really explain WHY the Borg don't just own the entire delta quadrant. From what Voyager shows, most of it seems to be full of species that are at or below the same level of advancement as the Federation and really by the end of VOY, the Borg's MO seems to be assimilation pure and simple. Improving the quality of life for everyone and so on. 1 cube could probably take most of the weaker species in the Delta Quadrant and that would be a wealth of resources for the Borg to use... I mean, as they're like a virus they really ought to have that exponential curve in their favour... but for some reason, they're still mostly in the Delta Quadrant. There logically has to be an explanation for their lack of progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 he dumped us far into (I wanna say..) Delta Quadrant right? Which at max warp would have taken the Enterprise around 2 years time to get to the nearest starbase. The enterprise was probably thrown somewhere into the northwestern area of the Beta Quadrant. There is a chunk of Borg Territory there, and it's not that far from the Federation. At least compared to the opposite side of the Delta Quadrant where Voyager was dumped and where another chuck of Borg territory is. Remember that once they were thrown clear of Borg Territory in that region, they had only gone 1/7th of the way home on their journey which was supposed to take 75 years at warp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Here's what I think. 1.) The Borg are all about efficiency. How does this fit? I'll try to explain. 2.) The Borg Cube the Enterprise encountered was probably alone, in the sense that it still had a subspace link to the collective, but wasn't [in Borg terms] anywhere near a transwarp hub or another Borg cube for a long way in any direction. It was probably on the Borg equivalent of some kind of deep space exploration mission, and they continued this mission on the their way to assimilate the Federation. 3.) This cube was the likely choice for attacking earth because it had already assimilated somewhere around 17 Enterprise crew members and directly encountered Federation technology via the Galaxy class flagship of the entire fleet. 4.) The Borg had no reason to believe that any more than one cube would be needed. Remember, they are all about efficiency. Wolf 359 was a massacre. They would have been correct if it was not for Picard being retrieved and Data using him to get into the collective command structure of the cube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 To be honest, they never really explain WHY the Borg don't just own the entire delta quadrant. From what Voyager shows, most of it seems to be full of species that are at or below the same level of advancement as the Federation and really by the end of VOY, the Borg's MO seems to be assimilation pure and simple. Improving the quality of life for everyone and so on. 1 cube could probably take most of the weaker species in the Delta Quadrant and that would be a wealth of resources for the Borg to use... I mean, as they're like a virus they really ought to have that exponential curve in their favour... but for some reason, they're still mostly in the Delta Quadrant. There logically has to be an explanation for their lack of progress. With one problem. The Borg do not assimilate unworthy species. Their technology has to be at a certain level. From what we see, most of the Delta quadrant is "behind the times" as it were. There may be a good reason for this: any species that reaches a certain level of technological development becomes a target for the Borg. Also, I see no reason to believe that the borg aren't the true masters of the entire galaxy. We only know of two groups more powerful. Species 8472 and the Q. The Borg also have 5 remaining transwarp hubs that basicly allow them to deposit themselves anywhere in the galaxy in a relatively short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Let's see... ENT episode "Regeneration" establishes that despite the foiling of the Borg in First Contact, that a message IS sent to the Delta quadrant, where it will be received 200 years later. This could explain the events at the end of S1 TNG, where the Federation and Romulans both find that their outlying colonies have seemingly been removed from the planets. What it doesn't explain is the interim period between the elimination of these colonies and the actual attack. Scouting out isn't exactly the Borg's style and then you have to ask where the scouting force goes? Where does that leave the cube from Q Who? Why don't use the transwarp conduit as seen in Endgame? Hell, if they'd dropped a cube out there, they could have had 10,000 drones on Earth before Starfleet even knew what was happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 What it doesn't explain is the interim period between the elimination of these colonies and the actual attack. Scouting out isn't exactly the Borg's style and then you have to ask where the scouting force goes? Where does that leave the cube from Q Who? Why don't use the transwarp conduit as seen in Endgame? Hell' date=' if they'd dropped a cube out there, they could have had 10,000 drones on Earth before Starfleet even knew what was happening.[/quote'] I've already given my explanation for why there was only one cube sent to attack earth. But you're definately right about one thing. As we see in endgame; if the Borg wanted to, they could overrun earth in a matter of hours. This really doesn't make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I don't think there's any need to question why they sent one cube the first time - the second time, one needs to ask "what's up with that?" But yes - the terminus of a transwarp conduit at Earth and the Borg never having used it is quite hilarious. Presumably the Borg queen was too busy vying for the affection of 7 of 9 against arch romantic rival Janeway to really focus on anything important like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Didn't we reach 'sort of' an agreement about this some while back? They couldn't send more than one cube after the first stories about the Borg, since they were presented so extremely powerfull that both possible endresults of this (multiple cubes) concept would be so laughable that nobody would 'believe' it. 1. Federation beats multiple cubes in a direct assault (NOT...) 2. Federation gets assimilated, end of Star Trek (NOT...) 3. Voyager solution: take multiple Deus Ex Machina's, a whole lot of technobabble and have one single starship beat nearly the entire collective to pieces on multiple occasions... (LOL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dracoons Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 maybe the writers suffer from writers block and had to just double/triple the fun with the Borg, they do that sometimes they recycle an idea but with a twist or addition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Maybe the Borg could spare just one cube the second time (First Contact) due to their conflict with species 8472. Now, regarding the terminus of a transwarp conduit at Earth, I must say that once again Voyager messed up everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 You're right, tetsuoshima - that's pretty much the exact conclusion we came to. It's sad when the reasoning behind storylines essentially amounts to "because the Federation couldn't lose" or similar and yet how writers repeatedly painted themselves into a corner where they'd need to have someone go "oh... best use the reset button." Star Trek: Borg! The adventures of the Borgified crew of a formerly Federation ship... That could possibly be the greatest outline for a sitcom ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Enigma Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 A better tactic for the Borg to use would be to send one cube. If that cube is defeated, immeadiatly send another cube. Rinse and repeat. Kick your enemy while they're down. This would be near perfect strategy if they used their transwarp conduits. That would make more sense, instead of giving the enemy time to formulate strategy and counter tactics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 ... what? Why not just send ALL the cubes at once? The essence of military strategy is to concentrate your forces and attack the enemy at their weakest point, not to just throw away resources by using them in some piecemeal strategy... although having said that, it DOES sound like the kind of stupid thing the Borg would do. Borg Queen: Hahaha, the last thing the Federation will expect after I sent one Cube to destroy them is... FOR ME TO SEND ONE CUBE AGAIN! The idiocy of it will surely destroy them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Enigma Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 You would send your entire Army after an equal or superior force? That isn't logical or a good use of resources. You're also forgetting the borgs ability to adapt. If they immeadiatly sent another cube after one was defeated they would eventually win. Star Trek: Borg! The adventures of the Borgified crew of a formerly Federation ship... That could possibly be the greatest outline for a sitcom ever. These are the voyages of the starship 'Borg'. Its continuing mission: to assimilate strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no Borg has gone before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFMF Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 The Borg only sent in one cube because when they did wipe out all of the Federation fleet - it would be like - oh my god the Borg are awsome!!! which they are but clearly it wasn't because they didn't have enough ships... In Regeneration (ENT Season 2) were told that the Borg sent a transmition back to Borg space and would take 200 years to reach there resulting in Best of Both Worlds....so at the time the Borg may have thought only one cube was necissary.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Maybe the Borg could spare just one cube the second time (First Contact) due to their conflict with species 8472. Sure, that makes sense. Except for one nagging thing: The queen herself came along for the party... if the war was so serious, why did she leave? Perhaps she felt that the Borg would be strong enough to fight Species 8472 if they had already assimilated a large area of the Alpha Quadrant, and so the mission was worth her personal attention. Especially since time travel was involved... the queen herself may have required memory of exactly how the timeline was altered. Plus the time travel would have given the Borg a two hundred year head-start on the war with 8472. But that brings up another issue: if time travel is so easy in the ST universe, the Borg should be way stronger because they could keep acquiring new technology and then give it to themselves in the past... or maybe they like to keep away from it as much as possible because they are wary of the dangers involved. Who knows? Also, I never understood why the Borg didn't time travel FIRST and THEN go to Earth and assimilate it, instead of going to earth, getting their cube blown up by Picard, and THEN time traveling. I mean, come on... are they stupid? So anyways, now we have some barely adequate explanations (fabrications) for why both times a cube was sent to earth, it was only one and not a fleet. But that still leaves the transwarp hub dillemna. Damn you, Voyager writers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 You would send your entire Army after an equal or superior force? That isn't logical or a good use of resources. You're also forgetting the borgs ability to adapt. If they immeadiatly sent another cube after one was defeated they would eventually win. Well... nah, I can't be bothered getting into that. I foresee only pointlessness. Anyway - time travel in ST is hilariously easy but you have to assume that (as the Year From Hell highlights) the results of time travel or temporal manipulation etc. are so difficult to predict that it can't be used to effectively control events. So the Borg traveling back in time was their plan B for the attack on Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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