The Enterprise Episode That Shattered Star Trek Canon – But Did Right By A Classic Villain
"Star Trek: Enterprise" soldiered on for four seasons, but really, the death knell happened early in season 2. The season's ratings peaked with its fifth episode, "A Night In Sickbay," at 6.26 million — and apparently, that infamous episode drove off potential audiences since the ratings on "Enterprise" never reached those same heights.
This might be why the tail end of season 2 features an obvious ratings stunt (and one that seemed destined to drive canon-obsessed Trekkies up the wall). "Regeneration" (season 2, episode 23) features the Borg as the villains. Contemporary promos warned viewers to, "Prepare for Enterprise's first encounter with — The Borg!" and emphasized how terrifying the cyborg hive mind is. The network definitely wanted people to know the Borg would be showing up ahead of time.
Did it work? Well, "Regeneration" pulled in 4.12 million viewers — the highest ratings since "Future Tense" (season 2, episode 16) and higher than the season's remaining episodes. But was this short bump worth it?
Frankly, the Borg should not have been showing up on "Enterprise," which is a prequel set in the 22nd century. The Borg were introduced on "The Next Generation" as a terrifying new threat; why should Starfleet be encountering them two centuries early? "Enterprise" pulled something similar in season 1 with "Acquisition," which saw the titular ship hijacked by Ferengi pirates decades before the Federation was supposed to make first contact with them.
"Enterprise" remains a contentious entry in the "Star Trek" canon — is "Regeneration" a reason why? Nope, because the (shockingly good) episode overcomes its shaky foundations.
First Contact with the Borg on Star Trek
Here's the history of the Borg onscreen in "Star Trek," at least as it's relevant to "Regeneration." They were introduced in "Next Generation" season 2, episode 16, "Q Who." Q (John de Lancie) throws the Enterprise-D into the far reaches of space to teach Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) a lesson in humility.
The Enterprise-D soon meets the Borg, who from the beginning are a terrifying force; trying to negotiate with them is like doing so with a hurricane. The barren planets of star system J-25, marked by craters where cities once stood, are a sign of the Borg's ravenous drive to consume. Season 3 finale "The Best of Both Worlds" then establishes the Borg don't just consume technology, they assimilate other beings into their hive mind; Picard is kidnapped and briefly made Locutus of Borg.
In the second "TNG" movie, 1996's "First Contact," the Borg are the villains. They travel back in time to 2063, attempting to stop Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) from making, well, first contact with the Vulcans. That way, they can assimilate Earth and prevent the Federation from ever forming. The Enterprise destroys the time-traveling Borg's ship (a sphere-shaped vessel) in orbit of Earth.
To include the Borg, "Regeneration" reveals some of the Borg Sphere's wreckage landed in the Arctic. In 2153, three scientists discover this, alongside two hibernating drones. Soon, a mini Borg collective is carving its way through space.
Producer Brannon Saga said that he thought the Borg appearing on "Enterprise" would be a "cheap trick" until a colleague suggested tying it into "First Contact." "It was such a great concept I couldn't resist it," Braga recounted.
Abiding by Star Trek history
"Regeneration" was co-written by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong. Sussman has said, "I consider myself something of a 'continuity hound'" and he worked to ensure "Regeneration" fit. For instance, he points to implications that the Borg knew about the Federation before the events of "Q Who."
In the "TNG" season 1 finale, "The Neutral Zone," Federation and Romulan colonies are found destroyed, with land appearing to have been "scooped up" off the planets' surfaces. No culprit is identified by the episode's end. In "Q Who," Data (Brent Spiner) notes the damage on the J-25 planets is similar. Ergo, it was the Borg all along. Sussman said he asked himself, "What made [the Borg] interested in our part of the galaxy? Did the Collective have some kind of 'inside information' about Earth or the Federation?"
He used "Regeneration" to offer a "possible answer." In the episode's final scene, Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) discuss how the Borg sent a message (containing Earth's location) into the galaxy's Delta Quadrant before they were destroyed. They assume this is the species' native region (and we know it is), but the message will take 200 years to arrive. Archer pointedly declares his crew has only postponed an invasion until the 24th century.
When was First Contact?
Even with Sussman's careful hand, "Regeneration" can't help but feel awkward in places. With all the evidence left over from this taste of the Borg's unrelenting power, you'd think Starfleet would've been more prepared for these mysterious invaders to come knocking back on their front door, even centuries later.
A galling example of this concerns Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley). Halfway through "Regeneration," he's injected with Borg nanites, their go-to method of assimilation. Rather than infecting him instantly like usual, they move slowly (evidently due to a quirk of his alien biology) and he devises a method of destroying them. How was this lost to time?
Archer also finds an old speech that Cochrane gave at the 2064 Princeton commencement, where he (drunkenly) told the truth about what happened during "First Contact" and the alien cyborgs out to enslave humanity. Cochrane is said to have recanted the story, but "Regeneration" would, in-universe, prove its veracity. This ties the episode closer to "First Contact" but is too clever by half. Apparently, knowledge of the Borg on Earth was first recorded not two, but three hundred years before "Q Who."
More generally, the characters can't learn who the Borg are. So, no one ever says or hears the name "Borg." When Enterprise hails the Borg ship and gets the canned "You shall be assimilated, resistance is futile" speech, the Borg noticeably don't introduce themselves.
And yet, this winds up working in the episode's favor by keeping the Borg mysterious and scary. The Enterprise crew doesn't have time to understand them (they never quite put together that their foes are a hive mind) because they must focus on defeating them.
Regeneration of the Borg
"Regeneration" takes "Enterprise" close to horror the way the Borg's early appearances did to "The Next Generation." Braga even confirmed the episode's arctic set opening is an homage to John Carpenter's "The Thing." This portion of the episode closes with Rooney (Bonita Friedericy) turning around to come face-to-face with the reawakened Borg drone. The shot-reverse-shot (a close-up of Rooney's terrified face and then one of the advancing drone) is right out of a horror movie.
We know how the Borg operate and what they want, but the characters don't. Thus, the Enterprise crew has to learn on the fly and adapt to this new foe before they grow too powerful to overcome. This dramatic irony could be tedious, and indeed, the opening scenes of "Regeneration" are the clunkiest because the dialogue is mostly exposition that the audience doesn't need.
Once the action takes off, though, the characters' metaphorical blindfold makes the episode more thrilling and meaningful. Archer initially wants to save the assimilated people, but we know that's impossible. He only realizes this when he guns down a drone and discovers it was once Rooney.
Borg who?
The layers of the Borg had been peeled back too far by this point, so "Regeneration" could never rival the horror of "Q Who." But it comes as close as it could. The episode even directly mirrors the Borg's debut in some scenes. For instance, Lieutenant Reed (Dominic Keating) and his security team discover a drone tampering with the Enterprise's computers. It doesn't respond to their calls to surrender and then they discover their weapons are ineffective. This is a near recreation of how "Q Who" introduces the first onscreen Borg drone (minus a deity whispering taunts in the Starfleet officers' ears about how screwed they are).
Director David Livingston brings the "Regeneration" script to life with perfect momentum; every moment is slow-building terror or action that leaves the good guys on the run. Braga also praised composer Brian Tyler's score for the episode, and rightfully so. Part of what made the Borg scary in "Q Who" and "The Best of Both Worlds" was Ron Jones' ominous music; Tyler's work for "Regeneration" echoes those leitmotifs.
Had "Enterprise" gone to season 5, husband and wife writing pair Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens had a "Regeneration" sequel in mind. Alice Krige, who played the Borg Queen in "First Contact," would return to explore the character's origin. In this episode (which never got further than a pitch), Krige would have played a Starfleet medical officer who encounters leftover drones from "Regeneration" and becomes their Queen.
Frankly, I think this episode is best left unmade. Making the Borg Queen a human renders the "Trek" universe insular. Plus, it would've been pushing the show's luck to bring the Borg back again.
"Star Trek: Enterprise" is filled with stumbles, especially in seasons 1-2. Somehow, though, "Regeneration" is a bad idea that the show pulled off well.