Borg

The Borg, also known as the Borg Collective are a fictional race featured in the Star Trek film and television franchise. They were introduced in the 1980s television series Star Trek: The Next Generation in the season one episode entitled "Q Who". The Borg immediately became a fan favorite adversary and were featured in numerous episodes of the series, in particular the season three two-part cliffhanger "The Best of Both Worlds". The Borg were also the central adversaries featured in the eighth film in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: First Contact. In addition, they also made prominent appearances throughout seasons four-seven of Star Trek: Voyager as well as numerous novel, comic book and video game tie-ins. The Borg are not so much an actual race, but a conglomeration of many different races, taken from various cultures. The Borg function under a collective hive mind and answer to a queen. They reproduce by finding populated worlds and absorbing, or assimilating people into their collective unit through a process of cybernetic conversion. By and large, members of the Borg Collective do not have identities, though there have been some notable exceptions such as the Borg Queen, Locutus, Hugh and Seven of Nine.

Notes & Trivia

 * The concept behind the Borg was created by directed Rob Bowman and writer Maurice Hurley based upon ideas originally developed by franchise creator Gene Roddenberry. Early concept sketches of the Borg were created by David Fisher and Rick Sternbach. Rob Bowman and Maurice Hurley provided the voice for the Borg in early Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes.


 * The Borg are known for several imitable catch phrases that have become popular amongst the Star Trek fan base. Most lines of dialogue spoken by members of the Borg usually contain some variation of the following: "We are Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own". Another phrase often spoken by Borg is "Resistance is futile".


 * Stunt coordinator Tim Trella has the distinction of playing the first Borg character seen on Star Trek. He was an unnamed Borg drone that transported into the Engineering section of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.


 * In the season seven episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled "Parallels", a version of the Borg from an alternate universe attacked and defeated the United Federation of Planets. The USS Enterprise-D, captained by a crazed William T. Riker was one of the few starships to survive the onslaught. The Borg were referenced in the episode, but were not seen.