10 Obscure Star Trek Secrets That Took Years To Discover
6. The Original Plans For The Borg
As most fans know, the Borg were introduced in the Next Generation episode Q Who, in which Q transported the Enterprise-D into Borg space to give humanity a taste of what horrors awaited them in deep space. However, less people are aware that the Borg were actually planned to be introduced several episodes prior in The Neutral Zone.
In the episode, Starfleet and the Romulans were investigating their colonies that were destroyed near the Neutral Zone. We never learned who destroyed these colonies, but, when the Enterprise-D entered Borg space in Q Who, scan revealed that a planet destroyed by the Borg was destroyed in exactly the same manner as the Neutral Zone colonies.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion reference books explained that the Borg were originally planned appear in this episode, kickstarting a three episode trilogy in which the Borg would be introduced as the new main enemy of the Federation, prompting the Romulans to join forces with them to save the entire Alpha Quadrant. The book goes on to explain that these plans were postponed, then later changed, due to a writers strike in 1988.