Sunday, October 30, 2016

Star Trek: The Next Generation 5.23

I, Borg

- A lone Borg survivor of a crash landing is found and brought back to the Enterprise; at first he sticks to his programming but through his interactions with members of the crew, especially Commander La Forge and Doctor Crusher, he starts to break from his programming and begins to think as an individual
- In the process of repairing Hugh, the Borg whose original designation was Third of Five, Geordi implants in him a program that contains a paradox; Captain Picard's hope is that the program will be propagated to the Borg Collective and eventually destroy them from within
- As Hugh seems more like an individual Commander La Forge and Captain Picard, among others, start to have their doubts about the ethics of returning him to the Borg Collective; Hugh seems to have bonded to some degree with Geordie and expresses a desire to stay on the Enterprise but ultimately opts to be returned to the crash site where a Borg rescue team can find him because he doesn't want harm to come to Geordie

- I love the idea of what is proposed here in terms of a solution to the problem of the Borg but I'm not sure if it ever bore fruit or was ever mentioned again
- possibly the most impressive aspect of this episode is the evolution of the opinions of the crew members (Picard, La Forge, Crusher, Guinan) who come in contact and interact with the Borg on a meaningful level; most of them start resistant to the idea that Third of Five, later Hugh, is an individual who is capable of feelings and emotions and should be being treated fairly; it isn't just their interactions with Hugh but also their interactions with one another as they consider the implications of their actions
- excellent episode although it does end on a somewhat muted tone

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