[Christopher Halsey]

EPISODE DISCUSSION

Regeneration
Original Air Date: 7th of May 2003
Series: Enterprise
Episode: 2x23

SUMMARY

An Arctic research team goes missing after discovering an alien crash site containing advanced technology and the remains of cybernetic beings. Enterprise is called in to investigate and the crew come face to face with a threat that's eerily similar to a story told by Zefram Cochrane about cybernetic aliens from the future determined to enslave humanity.

"You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." - The Borg

DISCUSSION

Regeneration the sort of sequel to 'Star Trek: First Contact' and prequel to Next Generation episodes 'The Neutral Zone' and 'Q Who'.

Prior to their appearance in The Next Generation episode 'Q Who' there had been no references to the Borg before with the exception of The Next Generation episode 'The Neutral Zone' in which the Federation and Romulans realise that some as yet unknown adversary has attacked outposts on either side of the zone. This made some fans and even crew members working on the episode uncertain of their appearance in Enterprise. Some of these concerns were allayed thanks to the story spawning from the events of 'First Contact' and the Enterprise crew not learning much about the Borg themselves.

What did you think of the episode? Were you pleased to see the Borg make a return to Star Trek? Did you like or dislike the way in which the writers explained their presence? Did you think the Borg were used well as an enemy or were they too easily foiled? Did you know that if you look closely during one of the Arctic scenes you can see the saucer section of the Enterprise E or that the female member of the Arctic research team was played by John Billingsley's (Phlox) wife?

[Christopher Halsey]

Originally I was a bit wary of the Borg being in Enterprise. I think the Borg are great but for me Voyager ruined them by over using them as an adversary, in The Next Generation they were very rarely seen and were played up as this almost unstoppable enemy, an adversary you could maybe slow down if you were extremely lucky but never defeat. In Voyager it just felt like they, or other races, were beating the Borg regularly which made them far less intimidating.

I think the version of the Borg we got to see in Enterprise wasn't exactly TNG Borg but seemed a bit better than Voyager Borg, they were defeated perhaps a little easier than would have been ideal but they at least had the excuse of having been blown up in space, having crash landed in the Arctic, being cut off from the collective, having been frozen for decades and being limited to relatively primitive technology to make use of.

I didn't like Phlox's sort of immunity to the Borg nanoprobes, again there were some reasons which may have been valid but we've seen people become Borg within seconds of being exposed to nanoprobes.

On the whole I think it was an entertaining episode and the writers obviously had some constraints about what they could do to not completely break canon which did impact the quality of the episode but not enough for it to stop being fun.

[Avenger]

I love this episode, if anything I think they wasted the storyline by not making it a two part episode!

[Christopher Halsey]

A two part episode could have been interesting. Theye had to cram a lot in so the pacing might have benefitted from more time.

[Adster94]

I personally loved the episode, was a very nice tie in with First Contact and plus it is very interesting to see the ENT crew react to the Borg. Even though it screws over the initial contact with the Borg a little, as Q claimed this was their first encounter with them - if I recall correctly anyway - but this goes against that completely! Other than that, it is one of my favourite Enterprise episodes!

[Christopher Halsey]

It does muddy things somewhat but then the Borg were implied (and intended) to be the ones responsible for the destruction of the Federation and Romulan Neutral Zone outposts in 'The Neutral Zone' back in season one, which predates the 'Q Who' episode anyway.

I think it's been explained in Voyager (as well as the Q&A novel) that the Borg knew about Earth prior to 'Q Who' and were already planning on assimilating them and that in 'Q Who' Q is aware of this and introduces Picard to the Borg as a way of giving the Federation advanced warning so that they know what they are up against, Picard thinks the events of 'Q Who' is what triggers the Borg to go after Earth when really they already were.

Q's involvement and wish for the Federation to be prepared for the Borg could also potentially explain his not meddling with the Enterprise again until after 'The Best of Both Worlds' so as to not distract them from their preparations. He is only seen once after 'Q Who' but before 'The Best of Both Worlds' which is when he has lost his powers and is seeking refuge in exchange for helping Picard, perhaps, given the chance, he would have helped them be better prepared for the Borg.