Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 12 - "Let Sleeping Borg Lie"The Borg are back, and Star Trek: Prodigy restored the scary edge to the cybernetic villains after several recent depictions downplayed their menace. In Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 2, the USS Protostar encounters a Borg Cube. Captain Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), and their friends board the Cube hoping the Borg know how to deactivate the Living Construct, which is the doomsday weapon against Starfleet the Diviner (John Noble) installed in the Protostar. Thankfully, Prodigy's teenage heroes came face-to-face with the terrifying power of the Borg, but they lived to tell the tale.
Star Trek: Prodigy's Borg is a classic version that lived up to expectations as the horrific menace originally introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation. When Dal, Gwyn, Zero (Angus Imrie), Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), and Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) entered the Borg Cube, the drones were thankfully hibernating. But when they awoke, the Borg were back in their relentless assimilation mode, and there are even more alien Drones in the Collective. They quickly adapted to Starfleet's phaser settings and swarmed the Protostar's young crew, capturing Dal, Pog, and Rok-Tahk. Worse, the Borg managed to assimilate Zero, proving that they can turn even a non-corporeal energy being like a Medusan into a Drone. Zero, who has experience with hive minds, was heroically able to break free of Borg control. The teenage rebels managed to escape and safely return to the Protostar, but the Borg are still out there, and they're as unstoppable as ever.
The Borg Haven't Been Scary Since Star Trek: Voyager
The Borg's true heyday as scary villains was from their introduction in TNG to the end of Star Trek: Voyager in 2001. The Borg are still defined by the TNG classic two-parter, "The Best of Both Worlds," where Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was assimilated and became Locutus. The Borg then became Star Trek: The Next Generation's best movie antagonists in Star Trek: First Contact, which introduced the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). From there, the Borg became Star Trek: Voyager's villains, and they memorably menaced Captain Kathryn Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) starship on multiple occasions. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) was a reclaimed Borg who joined the USS Voyager's crew, while Janeway earned the special enmity of the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson). The fact that Voyager was alone in the Delta Quadrant and unable to call upon Starfleet for help magnified the Borg's menace.
More recent depictions of the Borg dulled their edge, however. Star Trek: Picard season 1 showed that the Federation and Romulans took possession of a derelict Borg Cube called the Artifact, and they learned how to reclaim the Borg. In Star Trek: Picard season 2, the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) was broken and the last survivor of the Borg, which was wiped out by the Confederation. By the end of Picard season 2, the Borg became allies of the Federation, and Dr. Agnes Jurati (Allison Pill) merged with the Borg Queen. Even the Borg Queen's attack at the start of Star Trek: Picard season 2 was revealed to be her defending herself until she could ask Admiral Picard for help. Plus, in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) hilariously defeated the Borg a hundred times on the holodeck. Thankfully, Star Trek: Prodigy restored the Borg's original status as an unassailable threat to the Federation.
Is Prodigy's Borg Cube Star Trek: Picard's Artifact?
It's possible the Borg Cube the Protostar encountered may be the same vessel that becomes Star Trek: Picard's Artifact. When Dal's crew boarded the Cube, Hologram Janeway noted that a "neurolithic pathogen disabled their nanoprobes and shut down their Drones." So the Borg were already susceptible. In Picard season 1's backstory, a Borg Cube's encounter with Romulans triggered a submatrix collapse, severing the Borg's link to the Collective. This rendered the Cube dormant, and it was turned into the Artifact. The Borg's encounter with the Romulans happened in the 2380s, in the same time frame as Star Trek: Prodigy, which takes place in 2383. The Borg Cube the Protostar escaped may become the future Artifact.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.