I haven't yet posted my comments about Scorpion, so here they are.
As Zorch said, not a bad episode, especially compared to some that have
been foisted off on us over the last three years.  The conflict between
Janeway and Chakotay certainly gives cause for thought.
The biggest flaw with the script I see is the cardboard villain nature
of the new alien species -- the Scorpions.  It kind of reminds me of
Time's Arrow, which gave us aliens killing people for no reason that was
ever explained.
Star Trek has always been more successful when we were able to
understand the aliens.  Like in The Corbomite Maneuver, this is a much
more powerful story-telling technique than simple aliens killing people
because the script kind of needs the aliens to kill people.  "The weak
will perish."  Ho, hum.
Of course, there were other flaws in the story, based on the lack of
familiarity the writers seem to have with Star Trek.
Janeway orders Voyager to zoom off to the Borg battle field at Warp 2 --
a distance away that would take months or years to travel, based on
established continuity.
And speaking of established continuity, since when did Borg cube ships
use Transwarp drive?  Never before this episode.  (The Descent transwarp
conduits don't count, because these Borg ships were not traveling
through transwarp conduits.)  Even if they do, on occasion, use
transwarp drive, how did the people on Voyager know, since this has not
been seen before?
The Doctor mentions that as the beginning of the assimilation process,
the Borg take over red blood cells.  Does that make sense?  Why do the
Borg want to control the distribution of oxygen to the tissues of the
body they are assimilating?
The new aliens are designated by the Borg as Species 8472, and the
implication is that they were located by the Borg several months ago.
This provides an interesting tally on how many species total the Borg
has come into contact with.  Included in that 8,472 species would
presumably be all Alpha Quadrant species the Borg have come into contact
with, including humans and every other species on a Federation ship
assimilated by the Borg. the Borg several months ago.
How many years would it take the Borg to contact 8,400 species, do you
think?  Some people believe that the Borg have been around for tens of
thousands of years, meaning an average of well under one species a year.
Other people believe what Gene Roddenberry once speculated about -- that
the Borg grew out of the machine world that created V'Ger, 3-400 years
before the events in Scorpion.  This would yield around 25 new species a
year.
Which do you think would be more realistic for the wide-ranging Borg?
:-)
--- GEcho 1.00
---------------