Yeah, I dont think they discussed that to anyone after that incident at all. It was a very weird episode. It's like it disappeared from Trek lore.
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
325 points (99.7% liked)
Risa
8118 readers
392 users here now
Star Trek memes and shitposts
Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Everyone after this: Why are all the admirals jerks and/or evil? So weird.
That episode was wild. Setting up the big bad monster for the federation to be fighting... then just forgetting all about them.
I vaguely recall reading years ago that they were intended to be the initial infiltrator wave of what eventually became the Borg forces. I could be mistaken, since it was around the pre-AOL days.
That info is out there for sure, but I've always found it pretty shaky. Here's what Memory Alpha has to say on the subject:
The Star Trek Chronology, 2nd ed., p. 290 noted: "Although Picard and company were successful in eradicating them, the parasites did send a mysterious radio signal, presumably to others of their kind. At the time the episode was written, this was apparently intended to lead to the introduction of the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation's second season. The Borg connection was dropped before "Q Who" (TNG) was written, and the truth about the parasites remains a mystery."
The "apparently" always trips me up, but maybe there's a more definitive statement or there that I haven't seen.
It certainly could be true.
It sounds like a post hoc connection to explain it away, rather than that being that actual intention. I assume we'll probably never know though.
The truth could be somewhere in the middle - no real intent, but instead just reworking an idea from the Discarded Ideas Drawer into something new.
I'll pop in my blu-rays after I get home from some appointments, see if I can verify anything from the special features.
I'll pop in my blu-rays too. See if they have any Star Trek on them that I can watch.
you know what they just might.
You guys find any Star Trek on your Blu-rays?
I'm pretty sure I saw something on the blu-ray special features about this? It was gonna be too expensive to have the creepy worm alien things as a recurring enemy so they made the Borg as a cheaper alternative.
Too expensive to put one little mark on someone's neck but building Borg suites wasn't eh
lol the borg suits are just spandex with a bunch of random hoses and shit glued to them. no need to animate little worm parasites.
Yeah what a way to end a crazy "one off" episode.
I'm surprising never brought that back as a villain. It would have been perfect and they left the door open to that many years ago
they very much kerploded the 'bug queen"
Remmik got phasered!
This has to be among the best body horror scenes in the entire franchise, if not THE best.
Yes, the problem was solved.
listens to the last scene
Oh no.
K...?
I can kill all the ants in my house today, but if they’ve laid down a scent for the colony outside to follow I’m just going to find new ants tomorrow.
This looks like how I cook a turkey
mmm... turkey
yeah it's fine we told starfleet command
Wasn't the queen destroyed at the end of the episode and all the others died because he queen died?
I hate the "destroy the central entity and the others will be disabled" trope, so overused in sci-fi
I see it used on species that don't have individial identities, where one controls the brood, and for those it makes sense and I don't mind.
Didn't see this ep so not sure it applies.
Starship troopers is a good example perhaps, not many others I can think of.
Star craft 2 did this well IMO, where the brood without mother splits into chaotic disordered groups who are aggressive to everyone.
Edge of Tomorrow
1st Avengers movie had that too
I understand that, but my point was that the issue was resolved in the episode unlike the post make you believe
Allow me to explain: the rest is boring tho
Which, when? I grew up with genteel trek enthusiasts and therefore I was not a fan for a long time but always learning
Fucking mind flayers and their grand design!