Regeneration (Enterprise episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Regeneration" is the title of a Star Trek: Enterprise television episode from season two.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
In a desolate Arctic environment, a team of scientists discover remains of what appears to be a crashed spaceship, with several humanoid bodies frozen in the wreckage. The bodies are brought back to the scientists' compound, and are thawed out. The scientists do not know who or what these strange beings are (they turn out to be Borg, but never identify themselves as such throughout this episode); however, the Borg quickly demonstrate their ruthlessness when they return to life and assimilate the scientists and their transport craft, which the Borg use to escape into space.
The newly assimilated transport, which the Borg continue to upgrade with faster warp drive engines and even weaponry, attacks and assimilates several other spacecraft along the way. Borg drones find their way aboard Enterprise and attempt to assimilate Doctor Phlox, who uses a form of radiation (omicron) to destroy the nanites and stop the assimilation process. The Borg vessel is finally destroyed by the Enterprise, but not before the Borg send out a distress signal which Enterprise crewmembers estimate will take roughly 200 years to reach its destination—presumably the homeworld of these strange aliens.
[edit] Discussion
It is plausible that the Borg could have reached the 22nd century after the time-traveling events of the film Star Trek: First Contact. Although the question "How could the Borg plausibly fit into Star Trek: Enterprise?" was fairly well answered, it remains to be seen how this will affect future continuity.
The episode essentially established a time-loop not unlike that in the film The Terminator (1984): the Borg home region of space is in the Delta Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy, a 70 year travel at around warp factor 9.4 from Earth in the Alpha Quadrant. It was never really explained why the Borg Cube was already heading for Earth's region of space in "Q Who?", a region very far from their own Collective.
This episode attempts to fit in the concept that Borg drones damaged during "First Contact" in 2063 were freed from an Arctic crash site in 2152, well before their first contact in TNG which occurred in 2365. They stole a transport and attempted to reach the Collective. Enterprise was able to destroy all of the Borg drones, but not before they sent a signal to the Borg Collective in the Delta Quadrant that relayed the position of Earth. However, because they were using primitive 22nd century communications, it was projected that it would take nearly 200 years for their transmission to reach the Borg Collective; in the 24th century. This would explain why the Cube was heading for Federation Space in "Q Who?", and would also explain why the Borg seen in that episode appear so different to Borg seen later on in the series - they would be an earlier incarnation of the Borg, that set out from Borg space possibly centuries before.
It is also speculated that Starfleet hushed up the incident, as this was the only way continuity (in the series) could be kept; although most of the Borg wreckage from First Contact was destroyed, photographs and scans of Borg drones and equipment were left in Starfleet hands and advanced Borg technology had been assimilated into a small part of the Enterprise NX-01. This may involve the covert arm of Starfleet Intelligence seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Section 31.
The episode "Regeneration" also provides some continuity to the Voyager episode "Dark Frontier" in which the crew of the USS Raven set out on a journey to find the Borg, and an earlier episode "The Raven" which detailed the circumstances surrounding Seven of Nine's assimilation aboard that vessel. These events take place at least 10-15 years before The Next Generation episode "Q Who?", due to the fact that Seven is depicted as a child at the time of her assimilation, yet is a woman in her late 20s/early 30s at the time of her liberation. In addition, Star Trek: Generations featured the Enterprise NCC-1701-B rescuing refugees of a race known as the El-Aurian, who TNG established were fleeing the Borg; in fact, the character of Guinan from TNG was well aware of the Borg before Picard and his crew encountered them. It could be argued that any or all of these events could have been "covered up" in some way, and a fourth season episode of Enterprise establishes that Section 31 existed during the timeframe of the prequel series.
| Preceded by: Cogenitor |
Star Trek: Enterprise episodes | Followed by: First Flight |
[edit] Trivia
- One of the scientists in this episode was played by Bonita Friedericy, wife of series star John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox).
- This episode bears similarities to the 1966 episode of Doctor Who, The Tenth Planet, in which Cybermen (cyborgs who are often seen as inspiration for the Borg) take over a human base in Antarctica.
- Lieutenant Reed's line "We might as well have been shooting holographic bullets" is likely an allusion to Jean-Luc Picard's method of killing them with a holographic tommy-gun in Star Trek: First Contact.
- In the Star Trek timeline, this episode represents the second human encounter with the Borg.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Regeneration article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
