Locutus' Borg Prosthetics

[Ro_Laren]

In the episode(s) Best of Both Worlds we see Captain Picard get assimilated by the Borg. His right arm is fitted with a Borg prosthetic. My question is this, do you think the Borg completely cut off his arm or hand? Or did they just fit the prosthetic piece over it? And what do you think the function of that arm was?

And what do you think was the point of Picard's laser pointer eye piece? Was it to blind people? Was it to aid him when he was giving presentations?

BTW, you can tell from the two photos directly above that at the end of BOBWI the Borg had not finished outfitting them with all his Borg technology (as seen in the first photo). The second photo (from BOBW II) shows him with more technology on his forehead as well as some sort of body armor.

As a Borg it seems he had a unique function. He does seem to have the ability to assimilate others as he has no assimulation tubules (notice they are not visible on his right arm... unless they were easily removed and were not easily removed from Seven's arm).

And speaking of the removal of Borg components from Picard versus Seven I have a theory. It was easier to remove the components from Picard as he was only a Borg drone for a month therefore the technology didn't have time to fully integrate into his system. On the other hand Seven was a drone for most of her life and the Borg components had fully intergrated with her body. As a result it was harder to remove all of the Borg technology from her body. Do you agree with that theory or do you have one of your own?

 

[startrekwatcher]

In the episode(s) Best of Both Worlds we see Captain Picard get assimilated by the Borg. His right arm is fitted with a Borg prosthetic. My question is this, do you think the Borg completely cut off his arm or hand? Or did they just fit the prosthetic piece over it?

Well as we saw the Borg did just place the armature over his biological hand so obviously they didn't cut his hand off. I do remember hearing Piller wanting to actually, if not seen onscreen, in dialog have Picard lose that arm and Picard would have had a prosthetic replacement. I believe there was even artwork of it.

As a Borg it seems he had a unique function. He does seem to have the ability to assimilate others as he has no assimulation tubules (notice they are not visible on his right arm... unless they were easily removed and were not easily removed from Seven's arm).

I think you have to understand that at the time of BoBW and the other TNG appearance the writers had not conceived the idea of assimilation tubules or nanoprobes so I don't think you should try to look for them since obviously the costume designers wouldn't have included them.

Personally I always preferred the process as we saw in BoBW as opposed to the insta-assimilation with nanoprobes.

And speaking of the removal of Borg components from Picard versus Seven I have a theory. It was easier to remove the components from Picard as he was only a Borg drone for a month therefore the technology didn't have time to fully integrate into his system. On the other hand Seven was a drone for most of her life and the Borg components had fully intergrated with her body. As a result it was harder to remove all of the Borg technology from her body. Do you agree with that theory or do you have one of your own?

Yes because that is my theory as well. Plus Seven was not only a drone much longer than Picard but she was assimilated before reaching puberty and was in a maturation chamber. In fact, it always bothered me that Seven's human systems began to regenerate once her link was severed and her human immune system began rejecting some of her technology. You'd think that by that point her DNA and human systens would have been so fundamentally altered that her human biology was beyond being salvaged. Of course, the real reason they had to do it was because UPN wanted her out of the Borg get-up and into the catsuit.

 

[Anwar]

Just to clarify, Picard was a Borg for only a few days at most, not a month.

 

[Guartho]

And speaking of the removal of Borg components from Picard versus Seven I have a theory. It was easier to remove the components from Picard as he was only a Borg drone for a month therefore the technology didn't have time to fully integrate into his system. On the other hand Seven was a drone for most of her life and the Borg components had fully intergrated with her body. As a result it was harder to remove all of the Borg technology from her body. Do you agree with that theory or do you have one of your own?

I think it's a combination of that and the fact that they had two very different purposes. 7 was just a drone, but Picard was Locutus. It makes sense to assimilate your gap-bridger less extensively than your regular minions.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Just to clarify, Picard was a Borg for only a few days at most, not a month.

6 days according to DS9's "Emissary".

 

[erastus25]

In the episode(s) Best of Both Worlds we see Captain Picard get assimilated by the Borg. His right arm is fitted with a Borg prosthetic. My question is this, do you think the Borg completely cut off his arm or hand? Or did they just fit the prosthetic piece over it?

Well as we saw the Borg did just place the armature over his biological hand so obviously they didn't cut his hand off. I do remember hearing Piller wanting to actually, if not seen onscreen, in dialog have Picard lose that arm and Picard would have had a prosthetic replacement. I believe there was even artwork of it.

As a Borg it seems he had a unique function. He does seem to have the ability to assimilate others as he has no assimulation tubules (notice they are not visible on his right arm... unless they were easily removed and were not easily removed from Seven's arm).

I think you have to understand that at the time of BoBW and the other TNG appearance the writers had not conceived the idea of assimilation tubules or nanoprobes so I don't think you should try to look for them since obviously the costume designers wouldn't have included them.

Personally I always preferred the process as we saw in BoBW as opposed to the insta-assimilation with nanoprobes.

And speaking of the removal of Borg components from Picard versus Seven I have a theory. It was easier to remove the components from Picard as he was only a Borg drone for a month therefore the technology didn't have time to fully integrate into his system. On the other hand Seven was a drone for most of her life and the Borg components had fully intergrated with her body. As a result it was harder to remove all of the Borg technology from her body. Do you agree with that theory or do you have one of your own?

Yes because that is my theory as well. Plus Seven was not only a drone much longer than Picard but she was assimilated before reaching puberty and was in a maturation chamber. In fact, it always bothered me that Seven's human systems began to regenerate once her link was severed and her human immune system began rejecting some of her technology. You'd think that by that point her DNA and human systens would have been so fundamentally altered that her human biology was beyond being salvaged. Of course, the real reason they had to do it was because UPN wanted her out of the Borg get-up and into the catsuit.

Voyager even shows that 7 is dependent on some of her Borg parts to keep living. There is an episode (I forget the title!) where the crew must seek out other drones so they can take some thing to replace something that broke in 7's brain. OTOH, Picard being dependent on Borg parts is never mentioned again, so this theory would seem to hold water.

 

[Ebuntor]

In First Contact Picard clearly says:

I had their cybernetic devices implanted throughout my body

Which would mean they've all been removed. Of course you could say that line might still be somewhat open to interpretation.

 

[Ro_Laren]

In the episode(s) Best of Both Worlds we see Captain Picard get assimilated by the Borg. His right arm is fitted with a Borg prosthetic. My question is this, do you think the Borg completely cut off his arm or hand? Or did they just fit the prosthetic piece over it?

Well as we saw the Borg did just place the armature over his biological hand so obviously they didn't cut his hand off. I do remember hearing Piller wanting to actually, if not seen onscreen, in dialog have Picard lose that arm and Picard would have had a prosthetic replacement. I believe there was even artwork of it.

You're right. I haven't seen BOBW in a while and didn't look at all of the episode screencaps before posting this thread!

They should have chopped off his hand- that would have been cool!

As a Borg it seems he had a unique function. He does seem to have the ability to assimilate others as he has no assimulation tubules (notice they are not visible on his right arm... unless they were easily removed and were not easily removed from Seven's arm).

I think you have to understand that at the time of BoBW and the other TNG appearance the writers had not conceived the idea of assimilation tubules or nanoprobes so I don't think you should try to look for them since obviously the costume designers wouldn't have included them.

Perhaps we could say that the Borg didn't have nanoprobe technology at the time of BOBW? Or does Seven mention it's existence beforehand? Or perhaps it was in existence, but Picard didn't have assimulation tubules.

Just to clarify, Picard was a Borg for only a few days at most, not a month.

6 days according to DS9's "Emissary".

Dangit, I always forget how long Picard was masquerading as Locutus!!

 

[startrekwatcher]

Perhaps we could say that the Borg didn't have nanoprobe technology at the time of BOBW? Or does Seven mention it's existence beforehand? Or perhaps it was in existence, but Picard didn't have assimulation tubules.

Well I think Brannon wanted us to (wink, nod) to pretend that the nanoprobes had always been part of the assimilation process.

 

[greenmystik]

Perhaps we could say that the Borg didn't have nanoprobe technology at the time of BOBW? Or does Seven mention it's existence beforehand? Or perhaps it was in existence, but Picard didn't have assimulation tubules.

Well I think Brannon wanted us to (wink, nod) to pretend that the nanoprobes had always been part of the assimilation process.

They could have had nanoprobes in BOBW but not the assimilation tubule technology. That could have easily come after BOBW.

Actually when Picard is taken off the bridge we see a borg inject him with some kind of paralyzer/nuetralizer. Maybe there we nanaprobes in that to start the process of assilmilation and they refined it in later years.

 

[Anwar]

There has to be some Borg tech left in Picard's brain somewhere, otherwise how can he be able to "hear" the collective?

 

[shatastrophic]

What's wild to me is that in BoBW, Dr Crusher suggests introducing a destructive breed of nanites into the borg because Wesley fucked up a earlier in the year and let some loose and they had the idea in mind. So in TNG nanites, with a couple of weeks time, could possibly take out the borg. In VOY the borg use nanites/nanoprobes to assimilate and its supposed to be some revelation or something that the doc could make use of the borg nanoprobes when the tech had already been around for a few years at that point. It seemed the writers lost their way with the borg and to revitalize them for VOY they used an old concept of defeating them and turning it into a new concept of assimilation. In First Contact we only see the tubules, we dont know whats coming out of them. VOY hacked up so much shit.

 

[RapidNadion]

Re: nanoprobes ... my personal method for shoehorning the nanoprobes into the BoBW timeframe is that while they were indeed used for assimilation, they were not fully integrated into the Borg drones (in general, or just on that particular cube). Standard assimilation procedure, then, was to sedate a victim before beaming him back for "bio-bed assimilation." There, an extendable injector would deliver the nanoprobes into the host's bloodstream, resulting in the characteristic change in skin color (but none of the mottling of later, "more advanced" nanoprobes).

See the lighted barb here:

 

[Timo]

Or then the special means of injecting the nanoprobes had to do with the special role of Locutus. That's always a possibility, even though I do like your interpretation.

There has to be some Borg tech left in Picard's brain somewhere, otherwise how can he be able to "hear" the collective?

It's probably something really tiny or initially dormant that Crusher missed, since she insists she got everything out.

Then again, Bashir in "The Wire" established that he can't extract implants from Garak's midbrain without killing him. And this by a doctor who casually installed brain prosthetics for Vedek Bareil! So obviously it would have been a major challenge for Crusher to really get everything out even if she managed to spot every last implant or cluster of nanoprobes. Many of the implants are apparently built by those nanoprobes anyway, rather than being clumsily shoved in from the outside.

Speaking of which, it could well be that even though the artificial arm was inserted on Picard's intact right hand, the mechanisms inside might subsequently have eaten away Picard's fingers and wrist to better accommodate the machinery. Installing a biological replacement arm would have been rather easy, as we see (or rather, don't see) with the perfect graft of Nog's new leg. And nobody would notice that the bones don't match to the micrometer, a feat Crusher declares beyond her skills in "Schisms".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ro_Laren]

Speaking of which, it could well be that even though the artificial arm was inserted on Picard's intact right hand, the mechanisms inside might subsequently have eaten away Picard's fingers and wrist to better accommodate the machinery...

Ouch! That sounds painful!!!

 

[Bad Atom]

After all these years, I had NEVER noticed the additions to Locutus' headpiece between BOBW I and II. I'm turning in my Trekkie badge and sitting in the corner in shame right now...

 

[Tyberius]

Voyager even shows that 7 is dependent on some of her Borg parts to keep living. There is an episode (I forget the title!) where the crew must seek out other drones so they can take some thing to replace something that broke in 7's brain. OTOH, Picard being dependent on Borg parts is never mentioned again, so this theory would seem to hold water.

IN FC, Picard indicated that he still has the cybernetic devices implanted in his body.

 

[Tyberius]

And what do you think was the point of Picard's laser pointer eye piece? Was it to blind people? Was it to aid him when he was giving presentations?

Laser range finder

 

[cultcross]

And what do you think was the point of Picard's laser pointer eye piece? Was it to aid him when he was giving presentations?

funny image.

"Assimilations are down 10% - perhaps motivational donuts?"

 

[nx1701g]

Voyager even shows that 7 is dependent on some of her Borg parts to keep living. There is an episode (I forget the title!) where the crew must seek out other drones so they can take some thing to replace something that broke in 7's brain. OTOH, Picard being dependent on Borg parts is never mentioned again, so this theory would seem to hold water.

IN FC, Picard indicated that he still has the cybernetic devices implanted in his body.

Spoiler: novels

In the recent TNG Relaunch novels he had them reactivated to infiltrate a Borg ship - if you accept the relaunch that is.