The Borg are one ofStar Trek’shorrifying races, and one scene that you may have missed reinforces their cold and ruthless nature. Since their introduction 36 years ago, the Borg have terrified bothStar Trekfans and everyone else in the galaxy.The Borg do not want to defeat you: they want you to become one of them, andOperation: Assimilationshows how gut-wrenching the process is.
Marvel’s late 1990sStar Trekcomics were actually the publisher’s second round with the franchise. They held the license for two years after the premiere ofStar Trek:The Motion Picture.
Star Trek: Operation Assimilation, a one-shot first published by Marvel Comics in 1997, was written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Steve Erwin. Released just a few months afterStar Trek: First Contactrevived interest in the Borg,Operation: Assimilationfollows a lowly Romulan officer as she navigates her people’s first encounter with the cybernetic aliens. She is captured, and the remainder of the special shows her assimilation.Using novel narrative techniques, Jenkins and Erwin pull back the horrors of the process, including the loss of identity and humanity.
The Borg,Star Trek’sMost Horrifying Species, Explained
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A race of cyborgs residing in the then-distant Delta Quadrant, the Borg were relentless and could not be reasoned with, making them a serious departure from other species, such as the Klingons.
After the Ferengi failed to becomethe new major bad guys of theStar Trekuniverse, the producers ofStar Trek: The Next Generationneeded a new foil for theEnterprise, one that was genuinely scary. Thus, the Borg were born. At the time of their introduction, in the second season episode “Q Who,” the Borg were unlike any other race seen in the franchise. A race of cyborgs residing in the then-distant Delta Quadrant, the Borg were relentless and could not be reasoned with, making them a serious departure from other species, such as the Klingons.
The Borg proved popular, and they returned at the end ofStar Trek: The Next Generation’sthird season, in the classic “Best of Both Worlds.” The show’s producers and writers wanted to up the drama quotient for the Borg. To that end, they introduced the assimilation process, by which a person is turned into a Borg. In “Best of Both Worlds,” Captain Picard is abducted by the Borg, who assimilate him into their collective, thus obtaining all his knowledge and experience. Now, in addition to stopping the Borg, the crew had to save Picard’s humanity.
Adding the concept of assimilation to the Borg’s MO was a stroke of genius, as it indeed created drama, and made them into one ofStar Trek’sscariest species. Previous hostile alien races, like the Romulans, were out for conquest and the acquisition of resources. While the Borg have the same aims, there is another layer: they want to add everyone to their collective, submerging their individuality and converting them into a drone. The idea that a person can be converted into what they are fighting so easily is spine-tingling.
The Borg’s Assimilation Process is Horrific, and This One-Shot Shows Why
Star Trek: Operation AssimilationPulls No Punches in Depicting Assimilation
AndStar Trek: Operation Assimilationadds an even more disturbing layer to the assimilation process by giving fans a first-hand look at the loss of freedom and the loss of that which makes a person unique. As the Borg nanoprobes slowly overwhelm her, the Romulan officer tries in vainto retain her Romulan identity. She thinks back to her first kill and the day she became a true Romulan. As the assimilation process overtakes her, these memories become corrupted, twisted to fit the Borg’s agenda. Finally, the Borg use her as a vanguard to more assimilation.
What makes the assimilation scene inStar Trek: Operation Assimilationwork so well are the narrative techniques Jenkins and Erwin employ to show its horrors.
What makes the assimilation scene inStar Trek: Operation Assimilationwork so well are the narrative techniques Jenkins and Erwin employ to show its horrors. Text boxes are used throughout to convey thoughts, and once the Romulan officer is assimilated, these boxes begin to change, the color gradually shifting from green to gray. As the nanoprobes wash over her, circuitry appears in the boxes, a sure sign she isslowly turning into a Borg.The creators also describe the feelings and sensations she experiences as she is assimilated, and it is horrifying.
All of this makesStar Trek: Operation: Assimilationessential reading for any fan. In addition to giving a chill-inducing look at assimilation, it fills in some gaps in the Borg’s backstory, namely their first incursions into the Alpha Quadrant. These visits were only alluded to inStar Trek: The Next Generation, butOperation: Assimilationshows it unfold in terrifying detail. The one-shot reinforces why the Borg were one ofStar Trek’sgreatest villain races by personalizing the assimilation process.
