* In a communication originally to All, Michael Marek said:
 MM> I haven't yet posted my comments about Scorpion, so here they are.
 MM> As Zorch said, not a bad episode, especially compared to some that
 MM> have been foisted off on us over the last three years. The conflict
 MM> between Janeway and Chakotay certainly gives cause for thought.
 MM> The biggest flaw with the script I see is the cardboard villain
 MM> nature of the new alien species -- the Scorpions. It kind of reminds
 MM> me of Time's Arrow, which gave us aliens killing people for no
 MM> reason that was ever explained.
They have a reason, "The weak will perish" that sounds perfectly logical to 
me.  If you had the ability would you conquer everyone in the galaxy? (:  MM> 
Star Trek has always been more successful when we were able to
 MM> understand the aliens.  Like in The Corbomite Maneuver, this is a
 MM> much more powerful story-telling technique than simple aliens killing
 MM> people because the script kind of needs the aliens to kill people.
 MM> "The weak will perish." Ho, hum.
 MM> Of course, there were other flaws in the story, based on the lack
 MM> of familiarity the writers seem to have with Star Trek.
 MM> Janeway orders Voyager to zoom off to the Borg battle field at Warp
 MM> 2 -- a distance away that would take months or years to travel,
 MM> based on established continuity.
 MM> And speaking of established continuity, since when did Borg cube
 MM> ships use Transwarp drive? Never before this episode. (The Descent
 MM> transwarp conduits don't count, because these Borg ships were not
 MM> traveling through transwarp conduits.) Even if they do, on occasion,
 MM> use transwarp drive, how did the people on Voyager know, since this
 MM> has not been seen before?
 MM> The Doctor mentions that as the beginning of the assimilation
 MM> process, the Borg take over red blood cells. Does that make sense?
 MM> Why do the Borg want to control the distribution of oxygen to the
 MM> tissues of the body they are assimilating?
Assimilation must take place over ALL cells, they must be modified to supply 
assimilated cells with the appropiate level of oxygen.  MM> The new aliens 
are designated by the Borg as Species 8472, and the
 MM> implication is that they were located by the Borg several months
 MM> ago. This provides an interesting tally on how many species total
 MM> the Borg has come into contact with. Included in that 8,472 species
 MM> would presumably be all Alpha Quadrant species the Borg have come
 MM> into contact with, including humans and every other species on a
 MM> Federation ship assimilated by the Borg. the Borg several months
 MM> ago.
 That sounds strange, I thought millions of species lived in the alpha 
Quadrant.  MM> How many years would it take the Borg to contact 8,400 
pecies,
 MM> do you think? Some people believe that the Borg have been around for
 MM> tens of thousands of years, meaning an average of well under one
 MM> species a year. Other people believe what Gene Roddenberry
 MM> once speculated about -- that the Borg grew out of the machine
 MM> world that created V'Ger, 3-400 years before the events in Scorpion.
 MM> This would yield around 25 new species a year.
That sounds right, but they must of contacted more?
 MM> Which do you think would be more realistic for the wide-ranging
 MM> Borg? :-)
Maybe a 100,000 intellectule and non-intellectule species... They can reach 
the alpha quadrant in 8 hours from the delta quadrant.
 MM> (1:205/1701.6)
Strategic Militery Advisor,
U.S.S. Monitor-A
--- GEcho 1.11+
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