I felt that the worst decision of the Star Trek: The Next Generation’s movies was the death of Captain Kirk, well probably not so much his death but certainly the way it came about. The second worst decision: The Borg Queen.
Yes I know that First Contact is the best of the TNG films but the moment the Borg Queen was introduced I think the Borg themselves were weakened. This trend continued on in Voyager as the Borg Queen made her reappearance and at some stage actually negotiated with Janeway?!
You see the thing which always made the Borg great is that they were mad scary. No reasoning with, no individuals to take down, they were just a faceless wall of assimilating horror.
The reason why I stir up this hornet’s nest is that the Borg are the focus of Star Trek TNG: Resistance the novel by J.M. Dillard. Set a few months after the events of Nemesis… Ok don’t groan, it isn’t Nemesis! People really loath that film, I mean it wasn’t THAT bad!?
Before I go on I need to let you know that there are spoilers coming, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum but I can’t promise anything and just to get the ball rolling so you can gauge the level of disappointment you’ll feel as you read spoilers is the secret that the good guys win in the end!
There, still with me?
Great.
So a lot of the regulars are no longer there having moved on or died and there are a couple of new faces or should I call them red-shirts (wink wink)? B4 (Data’s double) is done away really quickly with, J.D. must have felt that he was a dud character, not exactly a lonely position to take.
So the long and the short of the book is simply the Borg have regrouped and are spawning a new queen, Picard senses this and take off, disobeying Admiral Janeway’s direct orders and decides to destroy the Borg before they go on a bloody rampage.
You see the Borg no longer care about assimilation they only care about revenge and killing all humans. There is a particularly tense scene where this fact is discovered and a red shirt has the chance to report back ‘they kill on sight now’ with his dying breath.
There are a couple of ‘love’ stories that are handled really awkwardly and I really didn’t enjoy picturing Picard and Crusher in bed together, let’s not talk of it again…please!
Overall a pleasant enough read that doesn’t really boldly go anywhere, such is the curse of writing a Star Trek paperback.
This was book one in my three week reading challenge and the next book I’m going to read is another Trek book: The Starless World by Gordon Eklund which is barely one year younger than I am (I’m 31 soon… God that sounds awful).
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19/04/2008 at 5:58 pm Permalink
so a bit of resistance towards finishing the book ^^. I don’t like the individualism in Borg either. The Borg have a great deal of overlap with the army I play in warhammer. They attack and assimilate and aren’t individuals. They are connected as one (although the node creatures in 40k are more important). But there shouldn’t be any reasoning.
Btw..saw Casino Royale yesterday, great film. Somehow Bond didn’t look like a Bond though.
Arjan’s last blog post..Upcoming
20/04/2008 at 12:21 am Permalink
Was Picard in bed with Crusher senior or jr?
Dan’s last blog post..Five, four
20/04/2008 at 2:09 am Permalink
The Borg Queen appears a lot in my blog.
Jean-Luc Picard’s last blog post..TWQ: Best Foreign Language Movies
20/04/2008 at 7:18 pm Permalink
Arjan - it’s ironic actually regarding Bond and Daniel Craig’s look because he is probably the closest appearance wise to the Bond featured on the covers of Fleming’s early novels and illustrations of the character. I think he takes a little to get used to.
20/04/2008 at 7:20 pm Permalink
Thank you very much, Dan’ll be here all week, try the steak and remember to tip your waiter!
20/04/2008 at 7:21 pm Permalink
Jean-Luc - we’ll be sure to check that out.
20/04/2008 at 8:00 pm Permalink
hmm sadly never got around to reading the books, I guess all the films kicked an other image of Bond into my brain. I’ll get used to it.
Arjan’s last blog post..Upcoming