History Recap / StarTrekPicardS3E09Vox

* WhereItAllBegan: To fight the Borg one last time, Picard and his command crew finally return to where their story -- and the entire 24th century era of the franchise -- began over thirty years earlier: the bridge of the U.S.S. ''Enterprise'' NCC-1701-D.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Implied. It's ''not'' explicitly stated, but given the physical state of the Borg Queen and her now-venomous hatred of the UFP -- to say nothing of the lengths she went to go after the Alpha Quadrant this time around -- the subtext here is that this all payback for Janeway and ''Voyager'', for all intents, firebombing the Collective on their way out of the Delta Quadrant two decades earlier. The next episode will explictly confirm it.

** Similarly, Ro, Picard, and the others belived the Changelings were targeting Frontier Day because, as Starfleet's 250th anniversary, it was the perfect time and place to make a statement (for good or ill). While there arguably is some truth to there, it turns out the ''real'' reason is because the 250th Frontier Day is the ''perfect'' means of gathering as much of Starfleet in one location as possible (thereby allowing the Queen to assimilate all those ships and their youg crews en masse).

As the ''Titan'' arrives, Geordi and Data continue their research, discovering something even worse: Picard's Borgified DNA and parietal lobe has been incorporated into the ship's transporters, which are copy-pasting the data willy-nilly onto everything that passes through the pattern buffer. This is what the Changelings infiltrated the fleet for: to help the Borg ''pre-assimilate '''everyone''' who has ever beamed on or off a ship''. The only edge Starfleet has, Beverly notes, is that it's restricted to the CompetenceZone: it can only affect people who are still growing, which for human beings is about 25 -- as [[TruthInTelevision that's when the frontal cortex finally concludes development]]. Still, while Starfleet may be MildlyMilitary, it is still military enough to be weighted heavily in favor of younger people. Up on the bridge, Sidney La Forge, Alandra La Forge, Lt. Mura, Ens. Esmar and the other bridge crew become assimilated; Shelby's transmission reveals the same thing is happening to every ship that is here -- which is of course AllOfThem. The fleet is rapidly assimilated, with Admiral Shelby being gunned down by her own ensigns; the only ship where the crew regain control, U.S.S. ''Excelsior'' NCC-42037, is blown up by the rest of the fleet. Shaw leads the ''Titan'' senior staff down to a maintenance shuttle. As the assimilated {{Redshirt}}s attack, the ''TNG'' crew evacuate and Shaw, Seven and Raffi HoldTheLine. Shaw is killed in the firefight, passing the conn to "Commander [[MeaningfulRename Seven of Nine]]" with his last breath.

** The ''Enterprise''-D is designed for a crew of a thousand. She currently has a crew of ''seven''. Geordi mentions that automated drones are helping with loading the torpedoes. It's justified as there's no time to get a crew. Besides, the ''Galaxy''-class ships have been established in-universe as being heavily automated. Equipped with a (still) powerful main computer core located in the saucer section and a secondary core in the stardrive section, she can be operated with as few as three people (or even ''one'' person) from the bridge in the event of an emergency.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Implied. It's ''not'' explicitly stated, but given the physical state of the Borg Queen and her now-venomous hatred of the UFP -- to say nothing of the lengths she went to go after the Alpha Quadrant this time around -- the subtext here is that this all payback for Janeway and ''Voyager'', for all intents, firebombing the Collective on their way out of the Delta Quadrant two decades earlier.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Downplayed, but subtle black comedy example. Throughout TNG and its films, Geordi wanted to help Data in his quest to become more human, including mastering humor. When post-merger Data breaks out the cheeky gallows humor on the ''Titan'' shuttle? From the stunned look on his face, Geordi's clearly thinking, [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier "God, I liked him better before he died."]]

* HijackedByGanon: The Borg Collective managed to do this to both the renegade Changelings and the Federation, proving to be both [[AlwaysABiggerFish the biggest fish]] and [[FinalBoss true final adversary]] of ''The Next Generation'' era of the franchise.

** Behind-the-scenes example with the re-built ''Enterprise''-D bridge. Michael Okuda has [[https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/star-trek-picard-enterprise-d-bridge-set-1235580496/ discussed]] how the classic LCARS panels aren't quite faithful reproductions; the crew took advantage of updates in production/digital technology to make subtle changes and upgrades that weren't possible during TNG's original run. Terry Matalas also admits they had to tweak the lighting of the bridge, trying to balance and honor the original 1990s-era lighting aesthetic with the advances in cinematography in the thirty years since, not to mention making it fit within the pre-established cinematic style of ''Picard''.

** Meta example with the rebuilt ''Enterprise''-D bridge. Michael Okuda has [[https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/star-trek-picard-enterprise-d-bridge-set-1235580496/ discussed]] how the classic LCARS panels aren't quite faithful reproductions; the crew took advantage of updates in production/digital technology to make subtle changes and upgrades that weren't possible during TNG's original run. Terry Matalas also admits they had to tweak the lighting of the bridge, trying to balance and honor the original 1990s-era lighting aesthetic with the advances in cinematography in the thirty years since, not to mention making it fit within the pre-established cinematic style of ''Picard''.

* LaserGuidedKarma: While it's not explicitly pointed out, this is basically the rogue Founders' revenge in a symbolic nutshell. The Federation tried to infect and wipe out the Great Link with a morphogenic virus during the Dominion War? Vadc's faction's returning the favor, collaborating with the Borg to infect Starfleet with their brand of viral plague (in this case, the Borg genetic malware). For added karmic symbolism, the subsequenrly assimilated Starfleet junior officers are now linked as one thanks to the Borg Hive Mind. In effect, they've punished Starfleet's next generation by turning them into a twisted reflection of the Great Link.

** Downplayed, but this ironically is what saves the TNG characters when ''Titan'' falls to the Borg. Between Ro Laren transferring most of the crew onto ''Intrepid'' and the losses Vadic inflicted when the Changelings stormed her, ''Titan'' is now operating with a skeleton crew. So, while all junior officers still succumb to the Borg genetic malware and seize control of the ship, they also don't have the numbers to overwhelm the vessel and the senior officers compared to their fellow drones aboard the other Starfleet vessels. So, Picard and company are able to fight their way to the shuttlebay and escape without being overwhelmed by superior numbers and firepower (albeit ''barely'' and not without losing Shaw and being forced to leave Seven and Raffi behind).

** Downplayed, but this ironically is what saves the TNG characters when ''Titan'' falls to the Borg. Between Ro Laren transferring most of the crew onto ''Inrepid'' and the losses Vadic inflicted when the Changelings stormed her, ''Titan'' is now operating with a skeleton crew. So, while all junior officers still succumb to the Borg genetic malware and seize control of the ship, they also don't have the numbers to overwhelm the vessel and the senior officers compared to their fellow drones aboard the other Starfleet vessels. So, Picard and company are able to fight their way to the shuttlebay and escape without being overwhelemd by superior numbers and firepower (albeit ''barely'' and not without losing Shaw and being forced to leave Seven and Raffi behind).

* BolivianArmyEnding: Starfleet has been totally assimilated and is converging on Spacedock, while the TNG crew is forced to flee on a shuttle to the ''Enterprise D''.

* CriticalStaffingShortage: The ''Enterprise''-D is designed for a crew of a thousand. She currently has a crew of ''seven''. Geordi mentions that automated drones are helping with loading the torpedoes. It's justified as there's no time to get a crew. Besides, the ''Galaxy''-class ships have been established in-universe as being heavily automated. Equipped with a (still) powerful main computer core located in the saucer section and a secondary core in the stardrive section, she can be operated with as few as three people (or even ''one'' person) from the bridge in the event of an emergency.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The ''Titan'' does not try to send any advance warnings to Starfleet or Shelby until they arrive (too late) at Earth. However, it's justified. With Starfleet compromised by the rogue Founders, any advance signal could be intercepted and blocked; ''Titan'' only gets one chance to warn everyone. More, they know the Borg and Changelings are involved, but they still don't know the exact plan (and indeed they don't figure it out until just as they drop out of warp). Any advance warning lacks evidence.

* BrickJoke: A very subtle, almost-stealth one for the ''Enterprise''-D. Back in "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E01TheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]", Riker was irritated to learn that Ten Forward was having trouble selling models of the 1701-D because nobody wanted "the fat one". Now, nine episodes later, all of Starfleet's been compromised, and what's literally the last ship still standing and the Federation's sole hope? The Fat One herself. They're ''definitely'' going to be wanting her now!

* FinalBoss: With the deaths of Vadic and the ''Shrike'' crew last episode, the Borg emerge as the true final villain, taking over Starfleet. This also culminates in the Borg being the final antagonist of the ''Next Generation'' era of Star Trek as a whole.