Regeneration *spoilers*

[Jason von Evil]

Probably the most controversal of the Enterprise episodes so far, 'Regeneration' was loathed, yet anticipated by all, due to the earliest appearance of the Borg in Trek history. I was sort of reserved about it, thinking that with this episode, B&B had finally just pissed on the defiled corpse of Trek. But, I and I'm sure others will admit we were wrong. Regeneration blew me the fuck away. It had action, suspence and most importantly, it did not destroy contuinity.

The episode played out well, throwing in alittle surprise like Phlox getting injected with nanoprobes. The way they handled phase pistols was cool, showing that atleast 22nd century SF officers had brains enough to just boost the power of their weapons, as opposed to a rotating modulation. About the phase pistols, I know someone will point out that Reed's and Archer's guns were taking down the Borg easily until near the end when they were surrounded, while on the Enterprise, the security team sent to repel the Borg were only able to take down two drones before the others adapted. The answer to this is simple, Reed told Archer as they were headed towards the transporter room that the modified pistols would need a few seconds to recharge after each shot. So, this could mean that the security team's second volley wasn't at full power, as they didn't have time allow them to recharge, while Archer and Reed only used theirs a few times and had plenty of time to let them recharge to max.

Phlox "cure" for the nanoprobes was interesting and makes you wonder why SF never seemed to think about this method before. Billingsly (sp?) did a good job at acting like he was [as Phlox] becoming assimilated, the way he tried to isolate himself from the others in fear of infecting them aswell.

At the end when we discovered that those drones had sent a subspace message back to the Borg homeworld and that it would take 200 years to make it there was sort of chilling, because we know what will happen those 200 years later. All in all, one of, if not the best episode of Enterprise yet, a fairly solid 10/10.

[TheDarkling]

Was I the only one who thought the music was good, especially for Ent?

Virtually 80% of the best Ent episodes this season were written by S&S, if they could replace B&B as the people in charge the show would be gold.

[Jason von Evil]

The music was very good, I forgot to add that.

Who's S&S?

[Atavarius]

About the phase pistols, I know someone will point out that Reed's and Archer's guns were taking down the Borg easily until near the end when they were surrounded, while on the Enterprise, the security team sent to repel the Borg were only able to take down two drones before the others adapted. The answer to this is simple, Reed told Archer as they were headed towards the transporter room that the modified pistols would need a few seconds to recharge after each shot. So, this could mean that the security team's second volley wasn't at full power, as they didn't have time allow them to recharge, while Archer and Reed only used theirs a few times and had plenty of time to let them recharge to max.

Hehehe, i did in the other thread, though your explanation seems to fit.

[Master of Ossus]

Wasn't it always a plot-point from TNG that Q brought the Borg on the UFP by introducing the two groups to each other early? I don't understand how to resolve the two. That being said, it was a well above average ENT episode.

[SirNitram]

Wasn't it always a plot-point from TNG that Q brought the Borg on the UFP by introducing the two groups to each other early? I don't understand how to resolve the two. That being said, it was a well above average ENT episode.

What I find relevent in the apparant resolution is highlighted. Early. The Borg knew they were there. The signal was creeping over towards the Collective. Any time around then it'd reach them, and they'd think about this pitiful little group..

And Q flings the far more potent E-D at a Cube to give the Borg a wakeup call.

[Atavarius]

Perhaps the Borg didn't think them a high enough threat until a ship suddenly appeared in their space. The Borg than inspected the ship to see if they had any technology worth (perhaps thinking they had an engine capable of bringing them to Borg space in a reasonable amount of time). That would also help explain the reasonable light Borg offensive against Sector 001 (1 ship at a time). Though this does not fit well with the Queen's obsession with humans, it does fit (at least i think so) to the pre-VOY Borg mentality.

[Mutant Headcrab]

Was there any expanation as to how the Federation would not know about the Borg? I mean, I just don't see how they can get away with briging them in without explaining how the Federation forgot about them. Even if they didn't know there name, they still should have been recognized somehow from the description....

[Admiral Drason]

I thought the Episode was very good and I enjoyed the music too.

[Frank Hipper]

It had me howling in pain!

While the script and the visuals didn't jibe, you could clearly see that a sizeable portion of the sphere survived not only Enterprise E's attack, but entry into Earth's atmosphere, as well.

Archer recalls Zephram Cochrane talking about them at a speech at Princeton! *vomits*

Archer is emotionally wracked by blowing the two drones off Enterprise when they were an obvious, and major threat. Is being that sensitive necessary for a commander?

Once again, resistance is highly effective.

[RedImperator]

On the Borg finding out about the Federation before Q sent the E-D out to play with a cube...remember that first season TNG Ep. called, IIRC, "The Neutral Zone"? Federation and Romulan colonies were vanishing, carved right off the face of the planets they were on. In "Q Who?", they explicitly stated that cities had been removed exactly the same way. The Borg were fooling around in the Alpha Quadrant at least two years before Q sent the E-D out there. Guinan thought that Q had introduced the Federation to the Borg and that was the reason they would come, but considering all the evidence we have (assuming this episode is considered part of Star Trek canon), I think it might have been that Q introduced the Borg to the Federation so they wouldn't get obliterated when the Borg came for Earth.

[Gil Hamilton]

Was there any expanation as to how the Federation would not know about the Borg? I mean, I just don't see how they can get away with briging them in without explaining how the Federation forgot about them. Even if they didn't know there name, they still should have been recognized somehow from the description....

Well, they only took genetic samples, bioscans, photographs, samples of the nanoprobes, a cure for assimilation, a few dozen drones, and a sizeable chunk of Borg technology. Nothing they'd remember.




Personally, I thought the premise of the episode was blowful, but the episode itself was a bit better. At least the Borg were somewhat clever this time, even though in order for their plan to work, they somehow assimilated some magic faeries that instantly make electronics gear suddenly pop into existance out of nowhere in real time. I'd give the episode 4/10, really. It's was pretty ok for bad sci-fi.

[Alyeska]

Wasn't it always a plot-point from TNG that Q brought the Borg on the UFP by introducing the two groups to each other early? I don't understand how to resolve the two. That being said, it was a well above average ENT episode.

Actualy its very simple. This episode ties up a loose end left in Voyager with the Hansons. This incident scared Starfleet shitless and they had a quiet project going that cumilated with sending the Hansons off to study the Borg. Picard had the first offical citing in Q-Who and that is when things got really bad for the Federation.

[Gil Hamilton]

Actualy its very simple. This episode ties up a loose end left in Voyager with the Hansons. This incident scared Starfleet shitless and they had a quiet project going that cumilated with sending the Hansons off to study the Borg. Picard had the first offical citing in Q-Who and that is when things got really bad for the Federation.

But how did the Hansons get the model of the Cube then, if at best, they were looking for a spherical ship?

[Alyeska]

Actualy its very simple. This episode ties up a loose end left in Voyager with the Hansons. This incident scared Starfleet shitless and they had a quiet project going that cumilated with sending the Hansons off to study the Borg. Picard had the first offical citing in Q-Who and that is when things got really bad for the Federation.

But how did the Hansons get the model of the Cube then, if at best, they were looking for a spherical ship?

Its entirely possible by the time we see them that they had shadowed a cube for a while and the father built a cube toy for his daugher for the hell of it.

[Gil Hamilton]

Its entirely possible by the time we see them that they had shadowed a cube for a while and the father built a cube toy for his daugher for the hell of it.

But all considering, you'd think that the Cube would know they were there before the Hansons knew about the Cube, and there wouldn't be much time for Daddy Hanson to make her a toy Cube.

[Alyeska]

Its entirely possible by the time we see them that they had shadowed a cube for a while and the father built a cube toy for his daugher for the hell of it.

But all considering, you'd think that the Cube would know they were there before the Hansons knew about the Cube, and there wouldn't be much time for Daddy Hanson to make her a toy Cube.

I was under the impression he had shadowed the Cube for a while (haven't seen the ep). Its possible that the Cube assimilated the Hansons to find out why it was being followed.

[Superman]

Back to the episode...

Pretty good, given that it IS "Enterprise." The music did kick ass. I would have called this episode "Redemption" instead of "Regeneration" because we finally got the Borg back, for the most part. Definately better than ANY Voyager episode to feature the Borg.

Are they ever going to learn that they are called "Borg?" The Feddies in Picard's time never knew the name until "Q Who," and when Archer encountered them, they did not identify themselves at all. They just said "Resistance is Futile."

[Ghost Rider]

A pretty good episode...mostly because amazingly people were used for what their professions are and did their parts(I still got a kick that inferior Phase pistols whomped at least 4 Borg drones, and a Borg drone is knocked out by a twack from a rifle butt)

Overall not too bad for Enterprise...will it make watch next week, no. But for a one shot, decent.

[Burak Gazan]

Above the curve for sure.
But they did change the standard borg opening speech:

We are the Borg
you will be assimilated
resistance is futile

to

you will be assimilated
resistance is futile

which keeps their identity a secret for the moment.

And one thing that a friend pointed out to me, for a century in an unknown location in the Arctic, they weren't very deeply buried in snow and ice. Aircraft abandoned in WW II and salvaged after only half that time were under metres of ice and snow. Minor nit, but still.
Finding and forgetting a cure for the assimilation nanoprobes seems a biggy though.

[Isolder74]

It figures they would find some way to save Phlox The Episode was nice but it did nothing to impress me. The Federation must have terrible memories and record storage systems.

[TheDarkling]

The music was very good, I forgot to add that.

Who's S&S?

Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong.

They are the other writing duo on Enterprise and are very much the anti B&B in that they A) Can write good episodes, B)Have seen TOS and C)Not only respect continuity but actually enhance it.

Most of the best episodes this season have come from them, most of the medium episodes have come from other writers like John Shiban and the worsy episodes are penned by B&B.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I love how 1 nanoprobe can now create a thousand from no metal. And how Picard never recognized the Borg ship or drone. And how Borg drones adapt to raw power. And how while a Borg drone sent Riker and Worf flying in BOBW, Reed and Archer took one down. And how giant fragments survived. And how after being slammed into the ground and frozen for 100 years, the Borg drones working perfectly. And how nanoprobes adapted to Phlox's imune system but not 8472...




POTENTIAL FUTURE PLOT: The nanoprobes Phlox extracted escape!

[Vympel]

I'm sorry, but the plot is, and always will be, fucking moronic. No giant pieces of the sphere were left. I saw it on screen.

[kojikun]

ignoring the obvious problem of no borg surviving reentry, the borg incident in this episode would likely have been classified, while the technology was studied. the developement of a (inoperational) transwarp drive for the excelsior may have been a resulting project of examining borg transwarp. The failure of the Excelsiors transwarp drive may likely be due to technology difficulties, which 7-of-9 pointed out in Voyager.

That said, theres really no way to reconcile this with the rest of enterprise, and its probably better to think of Enterprise as a parallel universe. Perhaps the Borg incident, new temporal cold war, and Xindi destruction of North America is what spawns the EVIL Earth Empire in the other timelike!

B&B, take notes..