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Why is it that so many sci-fi writers end up making a joke when they try and make something frightning?

The sad fact is that the vast majority don't think before they speak (or write.)

However, the sadder fact is that the Borg are like our own history. Many things we think of as common-sense tactics today were wild flights of fancy when first used. Alexander's phalanx, with its signature 14-foot pikes, was a tremendous novelty and helped him conquer most of the known world. Colonial troops during the American Revolution showed undreamt-of ingenuity in the guerilla tactics they adopted against the British and the Hessians. The Viet Cong killed or incapacitated unknown numbers of U.S. servicemen using sharpened bamboo, but by using it in a way that nobody else thought of.

As I have mentioned in other posts, the Borg do not invent - they collect. This is patently as true of tactics as it is of technology.

Rochey wrote:

Why is it that so many sci-fi writers end up making a joke when they try and make something frightning?

The great shame is that the original Borg, from Q Who were a truly alien and dangerous foe. A single mind, unintrested in the Enterprise as anything but "something they can consume". Without centralised authority, each cube moving in a straight line from world to world, as destructive and impassive as a hurricane they take what they need and move on. If you attempt to fight them they pause only as long as you or I would pause to swat at an annoying fly.

What did they turn into - space vampires being ordered about by a dominatrix. [/i]

I blame Voyager. It was that series which showed how pathetic the borg really are.

I have no problem with the way the Borg are now. Sure they are different than how they first seemed but while that was interesting would have got old pretty fast. An emotionless enemy... rather boring.

I disagree. I think the Borg as they originally were proved to be scarier, simply because of the alien-ness of their motivation and outlook (or lack thereof.) Additionally, that original cold, relentless, unfeeling, not immoral but amoral cast for the Borg was really the idea that was true to Roddenberry's conception of the next "big bad."

The borg were great in space but failed in ground combat that much we all know. Voy didn't make the borg look bad, they made them look like what they were. They were a superpower that thought nothing could harm them and the lose of a few personal wasn't anything to worry about since they could get more when ever they needed (sounds alot like a country i know of). The superpower got over confident and it ended up paying the price for it in the end.

Eygpt
Sparta
Persia
Rome
Russia
England
Germany
Japan
Only two super powers left - the US and China. Which one is next?

The truth is the Borg played the Big boy on the block roll. The bully that no one could beat until he got old and lost touch with reality.

I think the ones who lost touch with reality were the Voyager writers - at least, they lost touch with the Borg as they were originally envisioned. To make a pact against a common enemy (8472) makes perfect sense to us, but is alien (no pun intended) to the original portrayal of the Borg.

The Borg aren't stupid. If they didnt do that they would be been destroyed. No species wants that.

In many ways, the Borg ARE stupid. And like I said, what they did in that arc would make sense for US to do, but the innate (if unintended) arrogance of the Borg would certainly preclude that from happening, if the Borg were portrayed consistently.