I would say that they definitely had a little of their creepiness back.

My problem with the episode is with how Phlox (sp?) treats himself with radiation and is fine again. These are supposedly circa 2390 Borg that were defrosted, assimilated some new guys, who then started to assimilate Phlox, right?

So nobody in the TNG era ever tried to beat assimilation with radiation? Eh?

Have to admit, that's probably my favorite Borg episode, and agree with the above comment that it made the Borg scary again, rather than Janeway's punchbag. If anything, I think it was probably scarier for the audience, than it was 'in universe', because as the audience, we know exactly what the Borg are capable of. As far as Archer and the Happy Gang were concerned, this was just a bunch of gimped-up Tarkaleans to overcome, with no knowledge of what they were actually dealing with, and they were only able to deal with the drones they encountered as they were partially assimilated, and because the ship was being modified, not a regular cube. Had the NX-01 come up against a fully crewed cube, it would have been in serious trouble.

How else do you think Doctor Crusher got all the Borg garbage out of Captain Picard after the cube was destroyed? Might've happened 'off screen', but it's plausible that Phlox's treatment remained on file for treating 'cybernetic infection'

I agree. They only had to deal with a few hastily modified individuals and a small retrofitted transport. Though they did have Borg adaptive shields....

Yeah, Phlox's treatment did nothing but disable the nanites.... on a fully assimilated individual it wouldn't work.

I would suggest that maybe the implants which generate the adaptive shields are the first ones to be internally replicated, but that was clearly not the case with Lieutenant Hawk (Although to be fair, the Tarkaleans were infected much longer than Hawk was...) Either way, I think more fully assimilated drones on board, or an encounter with an intact cube, and it would've been game over for the crew of the NX-01...

I disagree. The first step in de-assimilating an individual once they're separated from the collective is to prevent further implants being internally replicated, or any removed implants being replaced. Shutting down the nanoprobes is the logical step in preventing that technological regeneration, so shutting down the nanoprobes would logically be the first step for a physician to take before attempting to start removing major hardware

It might work as part of a treatment protocol, but, clearly this was NOT done to Seven, Picard, maybe. My thought is that the actual implants probably have the ability to generate more.

The overall point I was trying to make is that this is a medical procedure not something that can be used as a weapon.

Which just reeks of lazy writing to me.

Um, it's sci-fi. Is there a reason you were expecting a lack of McGuffins?

Using tropes is not a sign of bad writing. A McGuffin is just as valid a trope as any other.


No, it was just a rather poorly done retcon. As much of ENT was.

How is it a retcon? First Contact is the reason they were there...