While hardcore Trekkers may not find a lot of new material in Star Trek Collective: Borg, newcomers experiencing 16 action-packed, fan-selected episodes of the Federation's greatest villains may have to prepare to be assimilated. All the episodes have been previously released on DVD, but there are new text commentaries on three of the episodes, and the per-disc price is significantly less expensive than the full-season Trek sets. It's a great entry point for novices, or for budget-minded fans.

Excellent Collection! Great Choices!

This is one heck of a great collection for people like me who don't want to get all the episodes from all the series. As I really like the Borg episodes and I already have the complete TOS and DS9 collections, this is excellent as no TOS episodes(obviously) and no DS9 episodes are on this which means I get to avoid any overlaps!

This collection starts with one of the few good Enterprise episodes, "Regeneration" where Borg are discovered on the North Pole, remnants from the encounter with Cochrane and the time-travelling TNG crew as detailed in the Borg movie, are inadvisedly revived by clueless scientists and it's up to Archer's gang to clean up the inevitable mess that's caused.

We next get the introduction of the Borg as Q decides to teach Picard a lesson in humility by sending the Enterprise into the Delta quadrant to face the Borg. Once this Pandora's box is opened, the episode ends with the foreboding feeling that this would not be the last time that the Federation would have to face the Borg.

We then get the 2 episodes of "The Best of Both Worlds" which end disc 1 where Picard becomes assimilated! Disc 2 begins with "I, Borg" where Picard faces the ethical dilemma of using an "innocent" disconnected member of the collective as a vehicle to infect the Borg with a killer virus or to send "Hugh" back unharmed? The next 2 episodes, "Descent, I & II" are probably the weakest ones on this whole collection as we get to see Hugh again but with Data getting his loyalties confused due in no small part to the designs of his evil brother. The plot is weak and the episodes very weak overall but fear not as the other episodes more than make up for this.

We now get Voyager episodes that are among the best ever of the series in "Scorpion I & II" which introduces us to Seven of Nine and a species that is actually stronger than the Borg! Next we get an episode that is very similar to "I, Borg" except that "One" instead of "Hugh" gets to be the star for an episode. Disc 3 ends with "Dark Frontier", where we get to see the Drone Queen in all her dark majesty.

Disc 4 contains both episodes of "Unimatrix Zero" where we see Janeway and her crew manage to plant the seeds of dissent and individuality into the collective mind and finally with my favourite Voyager episode, we get "Endgame" where Janeway defies Starfleet and goes back into time to secure a better, alternative future for her crew.

All the episodes here are ordered so well and all tell of a very unique element of the Borg while introducing key characters in doing so. As I'm not a fan of Q and I had to tolerate his appearance on thankfully just the one episode on these discs and as I already have the best time travel and Klingon episodes both here and on TOS and DS9, until they release other themes of Fan Collectives, this Borg Collective is all I need for now.

Very highly recommended!

Good Collection!

I share the same comments as one other viewer. Having a collection like this allows me to view my favorite episodes without having to buy the DVDs of all the different seasons. And the scenes with the Borg are indeed the more thrilling episodes. The "Best of Both Worlds" episode to me was the the greatest of the Borg episodes. I can remember watching the first part of that episode, which was the last episode/cliff hanger for the one season. And at the end, Commander Riker asked them to fire at the Borg ship, which had Captain Picard who was asimilated as Locutus. And seeing the ending sent a chill down my spine and I know I couldn't wait to see the conclusion in the next season!

I do have a suggestion though that I would like to see another colletion created which features all of the holodeck episodes. My favorite holodeck episodes are the ones with Data as Sherlock Holmes and with Professor Moriarty as the bad guy. An even more interesting episode with that theme was the one called "Shp in a Bottle", where Professor Moriarty created his own holodeck fantasy and led Captain Picard and Data to believe they were on the rest of the ship outside the holodeck, but they really weren't. Another good one I liked was where Commander Whorf and his son pretended to be cowboys, but something happened with the holodeck program and the safety features were not working. And Data was the bad guy and had the ability to kill for real since the safety feature was not working.

You Will Be Assimilated.....Resistance Is Futile !!!!

I was a big fan of the Borg from the time of their introduction in the "Q Who?" episode from ST:TNG. For fans of the multiple series who liked the Borg as an adversary (who doesn't?), this DVD set is a great way to experience the best of the Borg episodes. You get episodes from 3 of the 5 series (ST:TOS and ST:DS9 never had Borg episodes). Episodes are in Star Date order, so the episode "Regeneration" from ST:Enterprise is the 1st one on Disk 1.

Since others have gone into detail on the episodes, I won't repeat them here. Suffice to say there's plenty of action and personal interplay in the episodes. For action, check out "Dark Frontier", "Q Who?", and "Endgame." For personal dynamics and deep thoughts, you have "I Borg", "Drone", and "Unimatrix Zero" Parts 1 & 2. Some episodes have both, like "The Best Of Both Worlds" Parts 1 & 2, with Part 1 having more action and Part 2 having more personal focus.

Once again, it is nice to have the shows shown in their original, uncut version -- most of the episodes last a shade over 45 minutes (in syndication, most are clipped about 2 minutes shorter to allow for more commercials). There are 14 episodes on the 4 DVDs, including "Dark Frontier" which is really a 2-parter in length. "Dark Frontier" marks the introduction of the Borg Queen and is the longest episode/2-parter in the entire Star Trek series (unless "The Menagerie" uncut is longer). It goes just over 1 hour 32 minutes. "Dark Frontier" is often overlooked by Star Trek fans, but I like the interplay between Seven of Nine and Naomi, as well as the personality conflict and debates between Seven and the Borg Queen. The flashback sequences showing Seven of Nine's human parents, and their incredibly risky study of the Borg when Annika (Seven) was just a child, are also top-notch.

The picture quality of the DVD's is superb. Pixelation using the DVD zoom feature is minimal. All episodes are shown in a 4:3 aspect ratio except "Regeneration" which is shown in 16:9 Widescreen. I watched several of the episodes on an HDTV with a progressive scan DVD player and the picture was enhanced even more, though if you have a regular TV and standard DVD player you won't feel you are missing out.

There are not many features in the DVD set, which is not surprising since the purpose was to get fan favorites to the public in an affordable manner. There are some Text Commentaries by Michael & Denise Okuda on a few of the episodes; I wouldn't have minded additional commentaries by them or other Star Trek producers or writers or actors on the other episodes. Still, it is what it is and I suspect most people buying the set are buying these to see the action-packed episodes involving the Borg.

All in all, a well-produced set which gives good value for the money. Star Trek fans did a great job in voting for their favorite Borg episodes and now all can enjoy this selection of top-notch episodes in a nice-looking DVD collection set.

NOTE: "Endgame" is the series finale to Voyager and is also on the Time Travel Fan Collective, FYI.