BID Mailbag: Star Trek: First Contact and ID4

Originally published January 17, 1997, in Comics Buyer's Guide #1209

Cracking open the But I Digress mail bag, let's do strictly science fiction this time out with commentary on two of the biggest invasion movies of the year: Independence Day and Star Trek: First Contact.

First up are musings from Tom C. of Columbus, Ohio, who writes:

Just a little thought provides an excellent reason for the Borg not traveling through time to assimilate all cultures at a time when they are technologically incapable of fighting back effectively.

The Borg are not simply interested in assimilating cultures.

It is also a high priority to assimilate new technology. Free thinking being a major component in developing new technologies, then it can be assumed that a Borgified culture is at a technological dead-end. Such a culture can advance to the levels of Borg technology but never beyond.

This would explain why the Borg need to assimilate new technology. They are unable to develop any of their own.

If the Borg traveled through time to assimilate new cultures, they would effectively halt the development of the very technology they wish to assimilate. To use Earth as an example, if the Borg had successfully assimilated the human population in the past, then Earth would never have developed transporters, replicators, photon torpedoes, tricorders, androids, and the list goes on—and none of that technology could be assimilated. (Yes, the Borg already have some of that technology—transporters, for instance—but I trust you get my point.)

At that point the question is why the Borg would go back in time and risk destroying the very technology that they want. We can only assume they believe that the advantage of wiping out the human obstacle to assimilating Alpha Quadrant technology is greater than any advantage from assimilating human technology. After all, that still allows them to assimilate Vulcan, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Bajoran, and all other non-human technologies from the Alpha Quadrant.

You are, however, completely correct about the single Borg ship dilemma. Unless we assume they have only one battleship.

I did, however, come up with a conundrum that bothered me in the movie even though it never bugged me in the TV show (but should have).

Admittedly, there would seem to be no such thing as lawsuits in the Trek universe; still, it seems to me that given the potential for accidents—some fatal—why would you build a holodeck in which the safeties could be turned off? Remember the episode "A Fistful of Datas"? The entire problem could have been avoided if the holodeck safeties had simply been welded into place (or whatever) with no way to turn them off—ever!

Yes, I know Worf needs to turn off the safeties when doing his Klingon battle exercises (as everyone has reminded me when I mention this), but I hardly think the holodeck builders had Klingon battle training in mind when they designed the systems. Similarly, I can't believe they anticipated that Picard would someday need to take out some Borgs. So why not make the safety feature unalterable?

For that matter, someone else pointed out that, if machine guns can effectively kill the Borg, then why do Picard and crew continue to battle the Borg with energy weapons? Worf even comments that they weapons will have to be recalibrated and that the Borg would adapt quickly. So why not just ask the replicators to provide some tommy guns? (Hey, if Picard can override the safeties on the holodeck, he can certainly override the safeties on the replicators.)

Any thoughts on these matters? Along these lines, have you read the several Nitpicker's Guides to Trek by Phil Farrand? The three books (with a Deep Space Nine guide coming soon) are filled with little inconsistencies like these. I bet you would like them a lot.

P.S. Not to compare the radical right to Borg assimilation (but if the shoe fits…), but this is yet another reason to support the CBLDF and our right to free speech and free thought. Being unable to even consider unconventional thoughts and radical ideas—such as that the Earth is round or that the Earth orbits the sun—does tend to eliminate scientific advancement.

You raise some fairly valid points, Tom, although we do have to make up our minds on this point. If their primary interest is technology, then I can see their not attacking earth too early in the time stream. If on the other hand they've decided that humans simply aren't worth hassling with, then why wait until Earth is on the cusp of its golden space age? Why not pop back a century earlier, before Earth could mount any sort of defense at all? Still, your explanation goes a long way towards explaining why the Borg ever bother to face anyone on equal terms.

As for the safeties being capable of being shut off, it strikes me that this is one of those show-necessity reasons for which there is not a logical real-world explanation. If they wanted to do stories set in the holodeck in which there's tangible at stake (like lives, for example) then the holodeck has to be capable of doing genuine damage. On the other hand, it defies reason that people would go into the holodeck, into a life-and-death situation, as a mere means of entertainment. It's one thing to risk death when your method of entertainment is—oh, I dunno—skydiving, let's say. There the danger comes within specific parameters (if your chute doesn't hope, you're a pancake.) But a holodeck scenario—particularly detective stuff like Dixon Hill—has so many variables that it's impossible to participate safely.

So the Trek creators try to have it both ways. Yes, the holodeck is perfectly safe—except when the participant wants it to be potentially lethal. And, to be blunt, if I were Starfleet, I'd be carefully monitoring those in the crew who deliberately ask for the safeties to be taken out. It's like deciding to go for a leisurely drive, but first you have the seat belts and air bags removed so that you're facing genuine risk if an accident should occur. This doesn't strike me as the sanest and most reasonable of attitudes for Starfleet personnel to have.

And next we've got Paul G., who came up with "Some More Things Independence Day Taught Me":

1) It's always a wise tactical move to shoot down a fifteen-mile wide, multi-million ton spacecraft when it's hovering directly over the place you're defending.

2) It's perfectly safe to stand out in the open and watch huge chunks of debris rain down from high altitudes and/or orbit.

3) Conventional air-to-air rockets will cause great damage to a fifteen-mild-wide space craft with a fifty meter thick hull.

4) Dogs are fire proof.

5) Aliens capable of interstellar travel and armed with death rays will neglect to develop circuit breakers.

6) Aliens have yet to install firefighting equipment aboard their space craft.

7) They aren't too keen on damage control either.

8 ) The Grand Canyon is located in California.

9) Always send several scarce, expensive stealth bombers to launch one nuclear missile, rather than a bunch of them at once.

10) Coca-Cola representatives will have no problem servicing machines located in top secret government installations during alien attacks.

11) When fleeing major port cities, ignore all waterways and drive.

12) When the human race is getting its butt kicked by alien invaders, send in the cable guy (who should arrive sometime between 8 and 5.)

13) He will arrive on time (on a holiday yet!)

14) Even aliens will ignore Euro-Disney.

15) Brent Spiner makes a lousy speaker phone.

16) Aliens don't like having helicopters flash their high beams in their eyes (some things are universal.)

17) It's all right to give fireworks to three year olds.

18) Aliens wearing bio-mechanical battle armor are too weak to break through plate glass that can be shattered with pistol fire.

19) Marines can sniff out their girlfriends amidst several hundred square miles of shouldering rubble (no surprise there!)

20) Never assume that newly arrived aliens are familiar with communication methods from Close Encounters.

21) Aliens smash cities because they like being mean.

22) Species whose idea of adequate reconnaissance methods is to give rectal probes to rednecks can be beaten in several days.

23) Fifty-year-late alien recon ships are routine.

24) New York's never looked better.

25) RVs are always a priority military target.

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to a Second Age Inc., P.O. Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)