Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Brings Back the Borg, But Are They Still a Threat?

The Borg plot, of course, is more involved than merely connecting to Jack's brain. After the Changeling cohort got the Borg DNA sequence out of Picard's frontal lobe, they implanted it into the transporters of hundreds of ships, infecting the brains of anyone under 25 who beamed anywhere. When the Queen, with Jack's help, activated their Borg-ified brains, myriad ensigns essentially became Borg drones, tying together thousands of Starfleet vessels to take over the Federation. To what end? I guess because they like to assimilate so much, the Borg are once again handy "bad guys." 

And that's an issue. When the Borg first appeared in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Q Who" (May 8, 1989), they were terrifying and strange. Clearly inspired by the art of H.R. Giger, they had no goals other than to assimilate the technology — and the people — of the species they encountered. Their ship was a mere cube. They shared a single consciousness and erased individuality from the people they kidnapped. They could repair damage instantaneously and adapted to any weapons or tactics they encountered. Picard (Patrick Stewart) admits that the Borg have the Enterprise handily outmatched. Only literal divine intervention from Q (John De Lancie) can save him. The Borg were set up as so ineffable and overpowered that even the resourcefulness of the Federation was no match for them. 

Eventually, the Borg were brought back in the famous two-part episode, "The Best of Both Worlds" (June 18 and September 24, 1990). That was the episode in which Picard was assimilated. By the end of the two parts, the Borg, led by Picard, had infiltrated Earth's system and murdered thousands. Data (Brent Spiner), Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) managed to hack into the Borg's mainframe and shut down the attack. A non-aggressive finish to a spectacular story.