Star Trek Picard: Everything You Need To Know About The Borg
2. Wait, The Borg Had A TARDIS?
No, this was not the long desired crossover between Star Trek and Doctor Who. Star Trek Enterprise does not have the same fanbase that is enjoyed by the other series. It was marred by issues from the beginning, stumbling through much of its first and second seasons, despite some solid talent both in front of and behind the camera.
One of the issues that faced it was the fact that it was a prequel series and so the audience knew that there was only so much in the way of threat that the galaxy could offer. Those slaves to canon knew that the Romulans couldn't appear. They knew that the Cardassians and the Breen, the Dominion and yes, the Borg would not be making appearances.
Loopholes. Thank God for Loopholes.
Enterprise's second season delivered the episode Regeneration and it succeeded where Star Trek Voyager had not: it made the Borg frightening again. Using the time travel as shown in Star Trek: First Contact, the story shows that wreckage of the Sphere had crashed into the Artic.
This wreckage is found by a team of scientists, who proceed to discover, defrost and revive several Borg drones. What follows is a genuinely tense hunt. Enterprise is recalled to find the ship that the unnamed aliens have escaped on to rescue the research crew. The entire audience knows there is no point in attempting a rescue but the crew don't know that. The chase begins,
Aided by a fantastic score by composer Brian Tyler, the Borg are back and are as close to the dread-inspiring creatures of Star Trek: First Contact that the audience has seen since. It is fitting that the franchise needed to travel into the past to make them frightening again. But the drones that face off against Captain Archer's crew are as menacing as any that had been seen in the Star Trek universe.
The Easter egg at the end of the episode is a little forced but ties the story into the wider narrative nicely.