I vaguely recall reading years ago that they were intended to be the initial infiltrator wave of what eventually became the Borg forces. I could be mistaken, since it was around the pre-AOL days.
That info is out there for sure, but I’ve always found it pretty shaky. Here’s what Memory Alpha has to say on the subject:
The Star Trek Chronology, 2nd ed., p. 290 noted: “Although Picard and company were successful in eradicating them, the parasites did send a mysterious radio signal, presumably to others of their kind. At the time the episode was written, this was apparently intended to lead to the introduction of the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s second season. The Borg connection was dropped before “Q Who” (TNG) was written, and the truth about the parasites remains a mystery.”
The “apparently” always trips me up, but maybe there’s a more definitive statement or there that I haven’t seen.
I’m pretty sure I saw something on the blu-ray special features about this? It was gonna be too expensive to have the creepy worm alien things as a recurring enemy so they made the Borg as a cheaper alternative.
I vaguely recall reading years ago that they were intended to be the initial infiltrator wave of what eventually became the Borg forces. I could be mistaken, since it was around the pre-AOL days.
That info is out there for sure, but I’ve always found it pretty shaky. Here’s what Memory Alpha has to say on the subject:
The “apparently” always trips me up, but maybe there’s a more definitive statement or there that I haven’t seen.
It certainly could be true.
It sounds like a post hoc connection to explain it away, rather than that being that actual intention. I assume we’ll probably never know though.
The truth could be somewhere in the middle - no real intent, but instead just reworking an idea from the Discarded Ideas Drawer into something new.
I’m pretty sure I saw something on the blu-ray special features about this? It was gonna be too expensive to have the creepy worm alien things as a recurring enemy so they made the Borg as a cheaper alternative.