> 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
Of course the scorpion reference related to the Borg.
 > 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.
Of course they rarely keep to those numbers except for plot related issues.
 > 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.)
Rationalization: Borg have adapted to various things since Descent and, much 
as they've improved their assimilation techniques, they've improved their 
drive capabilities.  This new transwarpy thing they use is apparently related 
to their old transwarp conduits, in that they leave signatures that you would 
find if you were searching for said conduits.  Thus they expected, based on 
their current knowledge, to find the conduits and for the transwarp drive 
signatures instead.
 > 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 only reason I can see for it is so to provide a convenient mechanism to 
distribute their little nanoprobes.  The cells expect a supply of oxygen and 
instead get a supply of probes.  Also, the immune system might not be able to 
detect the probes and defend against them if it can't tell the difference 
between the normal cells and the probes.
 > 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.
 > 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
Rationalization #2: Borg use these designations only for species they don't 
initially have knowledge of or names for.  Since most species typically, in 
the Star Trek milieu, have knowledge of several others, the Borg only rarely 
need to resort to numbering, instead using pre-existing knowledge to identify 
newly encountered species.
Rob
... All characters portrayed in this film are entirely ficticious and bare no 
resemblance to anyone living or dead, except for one.
---
---------------