Not a terrible story, some scenes were genuinely great, but there were some definite downers with "I, Borg", the much-anticipated episode from season five, that distracted me more... But It is cool they didn't just plop out another action piece, this character study was good and had the potential to be great... but let's begin:
So at the end of 'I, Borg", Picard tells Hugh how the ship is gonna hang out in the star's chromosphere and roast some marshmallows as it'd be about 4,000~20,000K degrees out there and because of that the Borg wouldn't be able to find them*. So, once Hugh is plugged back into his Borg Cube Matrix and all his latest experiences sent over to be studied by the Collective**, it seems odd that the Borg is not giving a damn over this very federated species and their fancy flagship that they all fart in that they still want to assimilate. No worries, they'll attack in a big feature later and tell Picard not to go there, but he does and two seconds later he tells everyone where to shoot... eh, not tell them that from the get-go?! At least the Borg only sent one cube and not two, but I've already digressed... twice...
So why does Hugh recognize Picard as Locutus, when Locutus was disconnected from the Hive well over a year prior? Don't tell me the Big Bad Batch o' Borg lied to him and said, "Hey 3rd of 5, he went to Risa for a while, he'll come back, don't think about it" or something?!
Plus, Dr Crusher is a real nit in this one. Of all the characters altered for the sake of plot, hers was the lamest. Nor is the Borg a race, it's a gestalt of kidnapped races -- although, prior to Locutus, it was assumed by the crew that the Borg were just a single species that gave birth to their own then plugged 'em in like a toaster into a bathtub. So glad that changing the motif to assimilating other species became the norm instead, and it makes sense that they'd still kidnap babies and hook 'em up regardless... Guinan is runner-up for character alteration, but seemed more passable this time around, even if it was a little contrived and starting so strongly in the opposite direction with the fencing match. I miss fencing, did 2nd place in a tournament back in the day... don't look up the icon patch used on the letter jackets as the design makes it look more rude than what it really was, but new patches since 1991 have fixed that little issue and - wow - there I go digressing on a digression again...
Dr Crusher already up-nosing and end-running it all by ensuring there was Federation presence there remained unresolved, even Worf's first follow-up question made no sense. Not to mention, plenty of traces of their presence would still be there. So the Borg really knew and yet there's no part two.
How would the crew otherwise unplug everyone to make them individuals again, instead of the shiny happy individuals that they were under the Borg?
All in all, it has nitpicks, but it's not a disaster. Just a mild disappointment overall, especially for some great character pieces (e.g. Geordi/Hugh, Guinan/Picard, Guinan/Hugh, Picard/Hugh) despite the overall plot feeling too contrived and oddly lax with some explanations.
...The music in that teaser is the worst tease of them all, even worser than those chiseled abs o' rubber there...
♪ Shiny happy people, wheeeeeeee! ♫
A Clapton staple...
So at the end of 'I, Borg", Picard tells Hugh how the ship is gonna hang out in the star's chromosphere and roast some marshmallows as it'd be about 4,000~20,000K degrees out there and because of that the Borg wouldn't be able to find them*. So, once Hugh is plugged back into his Borg Cube Matrix and all his latest experiences sent over to be studied by the Collective**, it seems odd that the Borg is not giving a damn over this very federated species and their fancy flagship that they all fart in that they still want to assimilate. No worries, they'll attack in a big feature later and tell Picard not to go there, but he does and two seconds later he tells everyone where to shoot... eh, not tell them that from the get-go?! At least the Borg only sent one cube and not two, but I've already digressed... twice...
So why does Hugh recognize Picard as Locutus, when Locutus was disconnected from the Hive well over a year prior? Don't tell me the Big Bad Batch o' Borg lied to him and said, "Hey 3rd of 5, he went to Risa for a while, he'll come back, don't think about it" or something?!
Plus, Dr Crusher is a real nit in this one. Of all the characters altered for the sake of plot, hers was the lamest. Nor is the Borg a race, it's a gestalt of kidnapped races -- although, prior to Locutus, it was assumed by the crew that the Borg were just a single species that gave birth to their own then plugged 'em in like a toaster into a bathtub. So glad that changing the motif to assimilating other species became the norm instead, and it makes sense that they'd still kidnap babies and hook 'em up regardless... Guinan is runner-up for character alteration, but seemed more passable this time around, even if it was a little contrived and starting so strongly in the opposite direction with the fencing match. I miss fencing, did 2nd place in a tournament back in the day... don't look up the icon patch used on the letter jackets as the design makes it look more rude than what it really was, but new patches since 1991 have fixed that little issue and - wow - there I go digressing on a digression again...
Dr Crusher already up-nosing and end-running it all by ensuring there was Federation presence there remained unresolved, even Worf's first follow-up question made no sense. Not to mention, plenty of traces of their presence would still be there. So the Borg really knew and yet there's no part two.
How would the crew otherwise unplug everyone to make them individuals again, instead of the shiny happy individuals that they were under the Borg?
All in all, it has nitpicks, but it's not a disaster. Just a mild disappointment overall, especially for some great character pieces (e.g. Geordi/Hugh, Guinan/Picard, Guinan/Hugh, Picard/Hugh) despite the overall plot feeling too contrived and oddly lax with some explanations.
* not until the ship left the area, after... how long, again?
** Hence what led to "Descent", a 2-parter that started decently enough but then decided to... descent into dumbness. But that's another story.
...The music in that teaser is the worst tease of them all, even worser than those chiseled abs o' rubber there...
♪ Shiny happy people, wheeeeeeee! ♫
A Clapton staple...
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