A group of scientists uncover a group of Borg buried in the Arctic, and proceed to dig them up. Before long, the creatures have assimilated the humans, doctored a spaceship and headed off to continue doing what they do best.
Somehow it seems a bit churlish to start off a review with the phrase 'it could have been a lot worse', but that's pretty much how I feel about Regeneration. There's really no need to put the Borg into Enterprise short of a desperate desire to pick up some ratings, but to the writers' credit, they have found a gap in Trek continuity that makes the Borg a reasonable addition: First Contact. The Borg sphere exploded over Earth at the time of Cochrane's first warp flight, so it's reasonable enough to suggest that some Borg crashed to the ground and lived, frozen in the Arctic tundra.
The main problem, of course, is the same one as was faced with the Ferengi: the Borg must never be mentioned again or documented until the Enterprise-D encounters them a couple of hundred years later. This is a problem on two levels. Firstly, it means that now the Borg have been used, the trump card has been played and will not be able to bail Enterprise out of any future trouble. Secondly, it means we have to endure the painful process of dialogue insertion to explain a few key factors away. To start with, someone mentions that Cochrane made reference to meeting cyborgs from the future for quite a while before he retracted the statement. Now, this seems fair enough if we wish to lose them in the mists of time, but how often can people fail to make notes? Someone must leave some kind of hint about Cochrane's encounter somewhere, the Arctic scientists surely have time to transmit at least preliminary findings to Starfleet, Starfleet knows about the Borg because they send the Enterprise out after them, and the Enterprise knows about them because they have some on the ship and blow up another vessel with them on. The idea seems to be that if they never mention their name, all references to these creatures will vanish. Why? Is it just a filing thing, that any alien race without a name can't appear in Starfleet's records because they're not willing to open an 'unknown' category?
The other problem here is the Borg themselves. There are no Borg anywhere near Earth in this timeframe, therefore these must be from First Contact. Therefore, how come they're not resistant to phase pistols? They're already had to adapt to far more technologically advanced weapons thanks to the efforts of the Enterprise-E crew; they should easily know how to counteract ancient Federation weapons. Okay, so it's necessary to downgrade the Borg's capabilities so that the Enterprise has a fighting chance, but it doesn't make sense. The use of a Federation shuttle is another example of this, but despite managing to repel Enterprise's weaponry earlier on, it seems to stand up poorly to a sustained barrage of weapons.
There are, however, a lot of good points to balance some of this out. The Borg, minus their queen, are once more really creepy and threatening, especially in the Arctic base where you expect them to sit up any second. Watching unwitting scientists examining them sends a shiver down the spine, as you know they're playing with fire. Likewise, their assault on the Enterprise is swift and effective, carving into the hull in a nice link back to Q Who?, and infecting key systems with Borg tech. Archer's reactions are also good, as he tries every way he can to save the lives of the Borgified research team, only to discover that to save his ship and crew, he's going to have to kill. His sadness provides a more human insight into the captain than we've been used to, and is a welcome sight.
We also have poor Dr Phlox, infected with nanoprobes and trying to find a way to stop them taking over his body. While it's a little convenient when someone mentions early on that the Denobulans have had some success with nanoprobes, it's good to see that the doctor doesn't just manage to come up with a 24th Century cure immediately, but instead devises an unpleasant treatment that he is forced to use when given no alternative.
Overall, this is a pretty good episode. It's not perfect, but it does remind of some of those earlier encounters with the Borg and makes you wish that Enterprise could work them in again. Then again, it's probably best if they stay away.
***
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