Borg (Star Trek) - Concept

Concept

In the text commentary to the Collector's Edition of Star Trek: First Contact, Michael Okuda revealed that Star Trek: The Next Generation writers began to develop the idea of the Borg as early as the first season episode, "Conspiracy", which introduced a coercive, symbiotic life form that took over key Federation personnel. It was thwarted by the Enterprise crew and presumably never heard of again (the 'alien conspiracy' plotline itself was scrapped when it became clear that the concept was too grim for Star Trek's target audience). Plans to feature the Borg as an increasingly menacing threat were subsequently scrapped in favor of a more subtle introduction, beginning with the mystery of missing colonies on both sides of the Neutral Zone in "The Neutral Zone" and culminating in the encounter between Borg and the Enterprise crew in "Q Who?".

The Borg were a concept born out of necessity for Star Trek to feature a new antagonist and regular enemy that was lacking during the first season of The Next Generation; the Klingons were allies and the Romulans mostly absent. The Ferengi were originally intended as the new enemy for the United Federation of Planets, but their comical, unintimidating appearance and devotion to "capitalist" accumulation by "free enterprise" failed to portray them as a convincing threat. They were subsequently reassigned as comic relief. The Borg, however, with their frightening appearance, immense power, and, most importantly, their sinister motive became the signature villains for the The Next Generation and Voyager eras of Star Trek. In Voyager episode "Q2", even Q tells his son to never "provoke the Borg."