Product Details

• Actors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden
• Directors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304614055
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,179 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Enterprise answers a distress call to find a wounded young Borg (Jonathan Del Arco) on a desolate planet. After taking the Borg on board at Crusher's insistence, the crew wrestles with their fear and hatred of the most dread enemy the Federation has ever faced, while Picard and Geordi hit upon a devious plan to infect the Borg collective with a computer virus planted on their captive. Dr. Crusher is appalled at the plan, former Borg victim Picard is torn between his military instincts and ambassadorial benevolence, and Guinan has never been more merciless. And then they get to know this lonely little Borg lost, whom they name Hugh, who starts to shake the collective mentality and embrace his individuality. This fascinating chapter in the Borg saga puts a face and a personality to the relentless enemy, and casts the ruthless Federation plans of what is essentially genocide into an uncomfortable light. But their ultimate solution is a benign twist on the Borg campaign of assimilation. Hugh returns in episode 152, "Descent, Part I," and episode 153, "Descent, Part II." --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover

Answering a distress call from a strange planet, the Enterprise finds a crashed Borg ship with one young Borg survivor (Jonathan Del Arco). Despite the risk, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) beams up the injured Borg, and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) must remove some of his brain implants in order to save him. Seeing a rare opportunity, Picard orders Geordi (LeVar Burton) to sabotage the reimplanted chips by installing an invasive command that will "infect" the entire Borg Collective.

Disconnected from the Collective, the captive Borg begins to develop individual identity and emotions. As a result, he befriends several crew members, including Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg). But Picard hasn't forgotten his own painful assimilation by the Borg and is reluctant to pull back from his plan to annihilate them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Enterprise finds a Borg. Some of the crew try to save it, April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 123: I, Borg [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This episode is very emotional. The crew of the Enterprise find a Borg drone. Geordie and Beverly name him Hugh. Geordie, Beverly, and Guinan try to save him from Jean-Luc Picard. This episode is for anyone who enjoys who has children and wants to teach them ethics, not for the action type.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Viva La Resistance!, January 5, 2004

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 123: I, Borg [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Enterprise investigates an automated distress call on a small moon. Sensors reveal scant, faint signs of life from a crashed ship. When the away team beams down, they find the remains of 4 dead Borg - and one (Jonathan Del Arco) that is barely clinging to life. Dr. Crusher takes her Hippocratic Oath to the extreme when she insists that the Captain allow her to beam aboard not only the Federation's most deadly and feared foe, but the same race of aliens that once abducted and maimed him, forcing him to act as the aggressor against earth.

Picard bends to Crusher's will, then has an epiphany. Once the Borg is healed, they would have to beam him back to the crash site, to await the arrival of his fellow Borg to rescue him. Why not use this opportunity to finally destroy the Borg - all of them, by supplanting this one with a virus that will eventually make their hardware/software components unusable. Crusher objects, but Picard is determined to use this young Borg as the ultimate in assymetrical warfare.

Some of his chips are damaged and must be replaced to save him - and Geordi is given the task of introducing a program into the chips that will cause a systems crash when the Borg is picked up by his compadres. The Borg continues to rant on about "Resistance is Futile," and "You will be assimilated," and Geordi takes it stride with a smirk and a smart retort. In an effort to engage in a more mind-stimulating dialogue with the Borg as he makes repairs to his circuits, he names him Hugh. The name sticks.

Guinan, whose people were scattered throughout the galaxy because of the Borg, hates the species and looks forward to the end of all of them - until she meets Hugh and realizes there is a person under all those implants.

Del Arco has an innocent, sweet face that adds to the allure of this gentle child in Borg clothing. Perhaps assimilated as an infant, he has never known individuality before he was on the Enterprise, and it changes him profoundly. Picard, on the otherhand, has been a strong, hearty individual his entier adult life and yet his individuality did nothing to affect the Borg when he was assimilated. The Borg do not procreate, they assimilate... so everyone in the Borg Collective was once an individual - some were assimilated later in life, and yet none make an impact upon the Collective.

The crew somehow thinks that Hugh will be different, however, making changes in the hive mind. As Spock would say, "highly illogical."

Despite this major hole in the plot, no episode with the Borg will bore the viewer. The mere thought of them sends chills up the spine of any Trekkie or Trekker. They are the epitome of evil - right in the same company as Alien and Predator - except for at least the Predator plays fair.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Individuality matters, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 123: I, Borg [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This episode struck a blow to the face of prejudice and racism by showing that it's teaching and conditioning that make a person "good" or "bad," not the color of skin (or planet of origin). It showed that, if we are offered a choice, everyone can choose to be good, even a member of a race as evil as the Borg. Everyone needs to be viewed as an individual and not generalized or categorized based on race or gender.