"Never let the opponents know your hand." --- Harry Kim
"Nine of diamonds on a data node...." --- Harry Kim
"I'm marking my route with playing cards." --- Harry Kim
"Behold the David that slew our Goliath." --- The Doctor
"If there's anyone who can reach them, it's you." --- Captain Janeway
Synopsis
The Delta Flyer runs into a Borg cube on its way back to Voyager. As always, the Borg prove to be hostile. They open fire, pounding away at the Flyer's shields. The Flyer manages to get off several good shots, but the Borg are too powerful. Finally, the cube pulls the Flyer into a hangar bay.
Voyager tracks the Flyer's ion trail and finds the cube that captured it. The cube is weaker than the average Borg vessel, and Seven beams aboard to discover why. Once onboard, she discovers that the cube is being run by five Borg children. The adult Borg were killed by a virus. The leader of the children demands that the Voyager crew give up its deflector dish in exchange for the Delta Flyer's away team. Seven relays this information to Janeway, who refuses.
The children want the deflector so they can contact the Collective and rejoin it. Everyone who was on the Flyer has been captured by the Borg except Harry, who was in a maintenance hatch when the Borg captured it. Harry leaves the Flyer and trieds to deactivate the Borg cube's shield generator. When Seven beams a Borg baby to Voyager's sickbay, Harry is captured. Both Seven and Harry are placed in a heavily shielded area with the children themselves. The rest of the hostages are beamed back to Voyager. Seven then discovers that the Borg are aware of the children's predicament, but they want nothing to do with them.
The leader of the Borg children is killed during an explosion on the cube, and the others beam to Voyager with Seven and Harry. Most of the Borg children's implants have been removed, and Janeway allows them to stay onboard Voyager. Meanwhile, the crew will attempt to find the kids' families. As the children get used to their new home, Seven begins to teach them about individuality.
My Thoughts
This week we were treated to some nifty special effects, a good musical score, and more. Even so, I felt that "The Collective" lacked suspense. Why? Well, as always, I knew that no one on the Voyager crew was going to get hurt. I didn't believe for an instant that Chakotay and the others were going to be assimilated, just as I didn't believe that Seven was going to die last week. However, I'm used to that sort of thing by now, and I didn't let it ruin the episode for me. As I said, the special effects were superb. I especially loved the shot of the Delta Flyer skimming across the surface of the Borg cube, as well as the shot of the Flyer in the Borg hangar bay. We also got to see a few nice shots of Voyager. The effects for this episode are among the season's best, second only to "Dragon's Teeth". The acting was pretty good, and I'm glad that we have some new additions to the Voyager crew. Five new additions, to be exact. I look forward to seeing more of the Borg children as the season progresses. I'd like to see them interact with Naomi Wildman, as well as other members of the crew. My favorite Borg child was the little girl. She was nicely portrayed. I loved her scene with Harry. Speaking of Harry, I was amused that he used playing cards to mark his path onboard the cube. I also enjoyed the little poker game on the Flyer during the opening teaser. My Rating : I've decided to give this one a well - deserved 10.00 out of 10.00 -- NEXT WEEK : Tom and Harry finally repair the Fair Haven holodeck program, only to have it go haywire on the crew. This one looks pretty fun, and I have high hopes for it. I'm glad that Voyager is doing more comedies this season.
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