A History of the Borg

In this special episode, take a tour of the history of Star Trek's most intense villains, the Borg, by teasing details out of Trek canon.

This episode is made possible by the generous James Neumann. This episode would especially not have been possible without the hard mental work of Charlie Wertenberger, whose theories and assumptions are featured primarily in this episode.

Research is primarily that of Charlie Wertenberger and the crew of Reddit's Daystrom Institute (it takes a collective, sometimes). I filled in research gaps and dates where there was a need. Please feel free to leave a comment, but keep it civil. Also, feel free to ask any questions you might have regarding Star Trek or science fiction.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

That being said, STAR TREK and all related marks, logos and characters are owned by CBS Studios Inc. Trekspertise, the website, the promotion thereof and/or any exhibition of material created by Trekspertise are not endorsed or sponsored by or affiliated with CBS/Paramount Pictures or the STAR TREK franchise.

Video
The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 1, TNG, 1990
Star Trek: First Contact, 1996
Collective, VOY, 2000
Star Trek: Generations, 1994
Child’s Play, VOY, 2000
Stone Age hand Axe Shaped By Complex Brain, Emory University YouTube Channel, 2015
I, Borg, TNG, 1992
Endgame, Parts 1 & 2, VOY, 2001
Blood Fever, VOY, 1997
Dragon’s Teeth, VOY, 1999
The Matrix, 1999
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979
Endgame, Parts 1 & 2, VOY, 2001
The Emperor’s New Cloak, DS9, 1999
The Forge, ENT, 2004
Twilight, ENT, 2003
Exile, ENT, 2003
Think Tank, VOY, 1999
Homestead, VOY, 2001
Hope And Fear, VOY, 1998
Scorpion Part 1, VOY, 1997
Maneuvers, VOY, 1995
Drone, VOY, 1998
Dark Frontier, VOY, 1999
Mortal Coil, VOY, 1997
Survival Instinct, VOY, 1999
The Omega Directive, VOY, 1998
Regeneration, ENT, 2003
Rivals, DS9, 1994
The Raven, VOY, 1997
The Neutral Zone, TNG, 1998
Emissary, DS9, 1993
The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2, TNG, 1990
Descent, Part 2, TNG, 1993
Unity, VOY, 1997
Unimatrix Zero, Part 2, VOY, 2000

Images
Threshing of Grain in Ancient Egypt, taken and uploaded by Carlos E. Solivérez, 2006

Music
Confessin’
John Deley
YouTube Music

Dubstep Light
Jason Shaw

Rhythm Changes
John Delay and the 41 Players

[BalooSJ]

The scary thing about the Borg is not that they are the opposite of the Federation. It is that they are a *dark mirror* of them. Both cultures are about meeting others, learning things about them, and ideally incorporating that culture into their own. The Borg are just somewhat more direct about it, and don't give their targets any choice in the matter.

[TheRantingCabbie]

If the Borg ever come here, I'll just send them a copy of Windows Vista. Every drone will be asking every drone for admin permission before any action is taken. And seeing there's no single admin within the collective, it will just keep going around and around.

[jaanzi]

The Borg weren't so bad until they assimilated a Ferengi and learned about the Rules of Acquisition.

[nolaanderson]

the Borg are going to assimilate species logarithmically - slower at first, faster later on as their technology & numbers grow. You cannot estimate their age with straight-line growth. In other words, it probably took over 100 years for the Borg to assimilate their first 3 species, as they started with only their native skills and very small numbers.

[TorbenRudgaard]

THE BORG - My absolute favorite villain!! Who here would like to watch a movie about how the borg came to be?

[thenewpav]

Actually, we don't know that the Borg assimilated at least 10, 000 species, only that they have encountered that many. They do not consider all species worthy of assimilation. Seven has mentioned this in an episode of Voyager.

[TroutBoneless]

One minor correction. In VOY we meet a species that has never been assimilated, but Seven still has a numerical designation for that species. So the numerical designations actually represent every species they've encountered, not just the assimilated ones

Edit: looks like others have said the same thing in the comments lol

[AnnoyingNewslettersPage]

But the species designations aren't just for species that they've assimilated, though.

There are plenty of species that they've passed up because they were already past the point of anything that species could offer, the Kazon, for example.

[fbe]

Since this is a history of the Borg, I thought it appropriate that I put in a word for the guy who actually created the Borg. He was a writer for the series "Star Trek, The New Generation" and his name was Michael Piller. He did a bunch of episodes, but that one is special. Michael, I think the Borg was the best Trek creation since Spock. I know you guys who write these episodes keep in the background, but I wanted to give you credit.

[Audioholics]

Good synopsis on the Borg. Sadly the Federation has now faced a much greater threat to its existence than the Alex Kurtzman.

[bartonlightguy]

species 8472 was never assimilated. the nano probes would not work in them. so your theory that the species numbers are species they have assimilated is wrong. it is the order of the species they have encountered.

other than that fact it was really good.

[angelusumbra]

The Borg are fascinating. They're not exactly evil since they're not malicious, but like a machine they are cold and without empathy. If they could be controlled and evolve to know and accept empathy, and offered joining the Borg rather than forcing assimilation, I think it would be mutually beneficial. There would always be those willing to join them, and so offer their own uniqueness to the collective helping them evolve as they want to, while also not terrorizing other species.

[fernandocaballero]

I'd make a history of the Ferengi, but they'd charge me royalties for it.

[void_presence]

The # of assimilated species doesn't necessarily correspond with their age, at least not 1:1; not all species they've encountered have been worth assimilating, they only assimilate if they find something unique that would be beneficial to the Borg.

[kylew.]

"The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots."

Erich Fromm, German sociologist and psychoanalyst

[scottkfilgo]

Annie Wersching, who plays a Borg Queen in Picard this season says her role prep research included not only a review of all borg episodes on TNG and VGR but also watching a fan-made online History of the Borg as part of her prep for the role (re: Wil Wheaton's Picard aftershow). Pretty sure she meant your's!! Grats guys for providing a bit of inspiration to a very nice performance by Wersching.

[CptApplestrudl]

Not every species registered has to be assimilated.
I remember Seven and Neelix having a short talk about the Borg beeing picky.

[alwayswondering]

As a kid, no adversary freaked me out as much as the Borg.

[izzytrekker]

Borg Origin movie would be awesome.
Star trek
The First Assimulation

[callmequaz]

I like how ambiguous the Borg origins are. There is nothing we fear more than that we do not understand, and having the Borg being such an ambiguous thing that we know little about makes them that much more terrifying.