1. Endgame
The final episode of Star Trek: Voyager also presents the final encounter with the Borg and their queen (in a repeat role played by the intensely seductive Alice Krige who else can pull off a sexy performance in PVC tubing, plastic clothing and cosmetic facial cement?). This isn't about the futility of resistance this is about regret and redress. It is the tenth anniversary of the 23-year of Voyager's return home. There have been death and casualties and an aged Admiral Janeway decides to risk all in a time-jaunt back to the Delta Quadrant to prevent those deaths and injuries and get her younger self's crew home faster and safer. This is a complete repudiation of previously unassailable Starfleet values and procedure, like never to violate the temporal prime directive. Not only does the elder Janeway reveal future knowledge and consequences to her younger self, in a clear attempt to change the future; she also brings back advanced technology to upgrade Voyager to aid in its return home. Of course, this also means that the Borg also have to face this advanced technology, which they are unable to defend against. Sure enough, this proves not only Voyager's means home, but also the Borg's undoing. With Voyager's ablative armour (preventing Borg cubes from obtaining tractor beam locks) and trans-phasic torpedoes (which literally appear inside the Borg shields before they are raised) the Borg are no match for "Battleship Voyager". The result: the Borg are thoroughly trashed in a way that has never been seen in previous encounters; Voyager returns home to safeguard its whole crew 23 years earlier than was originally supposed to happen, and the elder Janeway dies in combat with the Borg, releasing a neurolytic pathogen which essentially ends the Borg threat once and for all. It's a relatively cavalier episode, especially in dealing with two major Trek elements. This episode sees the return of Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant and the end of the Borg. This makes this episode the most prominent in demonstrating why resistance wasn't futile, but removes the Borg from the threat list so expediently and off-handedly that it's almost a shame to see them go. The Borg were the perfect nemesis for the Federation. Not only did they illustrate the Federation's overly-superior sense of self-importance but they also forced them to confront this attitude and, at times, abandon their principles in the face of survival. They were an important enemy because they eliminated unrealistic Utopian ideals and made Starfleet officers like Picard and Janeway more human and believable. They were the perfect threat and generated amazing stories that elevated Star Trek: The Next Generation to new heights and invigorated Star Trek: Voyager. They simply were responsible for the best stories in the modern day Star Trek franchise. In other words: their individual value was assimilated and added to the Star Trek Collective's whole. Hardly futile.