Star Trek: 11 Things You Didn't Know About The Borg Queen

11. Enigmatic Entity

It is difficult to fathom now, but the introduction of the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact wasn't well received by all at the time of the film's release. Controversy among Star Trek fans? Well, I never… !

Before First Contact, the Borg were a homogenous, single-willed foe with no clear leader or, rather, without the apparent need for one. This kind of impenetrable, indivisible hive-mind (save for Locutus) was, for some, their distinctive appeal. The fact that the Borg Queen had never been mentioned in The Next Generation made the character equally perplexing for certain fans.

As First Contact co-writer Brannon Braga discussed in an interview for StarTrek.com, it was quickly realised that a "robot zombie," tight-lipped adversary wouldn't quite work for a feature film. This is why the Queen was created to speak for the Borg, and not just because they were gunning for sexiest on-screen kiss.

Fans were also left unclear by the film as to the exact role the Queen played within the Collective. "I wish to understand the organisational relationships. Are you their leader?" asked Data. He got the "cryptic" reply, but you could think of the Queen as some sort of central processing and command hub — from within the 'central nexus' — bringing order to the chaos. As First Contact screenwriter Ron Moore also stated, the Borg Queen was always intended to be a "literal person" and not merely a manifestation of the Collective.

In interviews for an HBO behind the scenes First Contact special, the film's director Jonathan Frakes added that the Borg, "have one leader, the Borg Queen, who controls the entire Borg hive". Alice Krige, who played the Queen in the film, said "she's the intelligence that animates the Borg". The Queen's entry in the Star Trek Encyclopaedia simply calls her the "locus of the Borg collective".