Star Trek 101: The Borg

[Vic 17]

Star Trek 101, StarTrek.com's newest regular column, serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why, written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, as well as the first 10 Trek feature films. Today, we learn about the Borg...

The Borg collective is an amalgamated group of many subjugated races: human, Klingon, Vulcan – you name it. The Collective assimilates every sentient being it encounters, improving the individual by removing “imperfect” organic body parts and replacing them with technologically superior artificial ones – such as eyes that emit laser beams and hands that double as buzz saws.

What the Collective lacks in free will, it makes up for in wholehearted dedication. All members dress the same (basic black, with complementary circuitry and tubing)., act the same (zombie-like), and spout the same party line: “You will be assimilated” and “Resistance is futile.”

Their most common form of transportation is the gigantic and deadly Borg cube, armed with powerful energy weapons and capable of self-repairing damage almost immediately.

Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are coauthors of numerous books about the entertainment industry, including Star Trek 101; Star Trek Costumes: Fifty Years of Fashion from the Final Frontier; Star Trek: The Original Series 365; and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. They currently are writing the latest in their series of Ferengi novellas, which (so far) includes Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found); and Rules of Accusation. Their most recent non-Star Trek book is Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History.

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