Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 is a 2012 comic book miniseries from IDW that is a crossover of Science Fiction Long-Runners Star Trek and Doctor Who.
The premise of the story is that the Borg and the Cybermen have formed an alliance, and that the Eleventh Doctor, along with companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams, have to team up with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) to stop this formidable menace.
The miniseries is eight issues long.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 provides examples of:
- Action Hero: Kirk fights against a Cyberman barehanded, and though losing it's awesome!
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The first issue opens up with an invasion of Borg and Cybermen.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Issue 3 revolves around Kirk and crew, teaming up with the Fourth Doctor against '80s-era Cybermen.
- Another Dimension: Hinted at twice in the second issue. The Doctor, who claims to know every star and planet out there, identifies Worf as a Klingon, but then informs Amy and Rory that until seeing him he'd never heard of a Klingon before. Later, when Picard receives the Distress Call from Delta IV, the Doctor reminds us of his familiarity with the whole of the universe and then states he's never heard of Delta IV. Guinan confirms the multi-dimensional nature of the conflict in Issue 5, explaining that part of what makes the Cybermen so dangerous is their awareness of and existence in multiple dimensions, and how assimilating the Borg and their resources would make them powerful enough to expand across and take over all of reality.
- Arc Words: When Picard first mentions the Battle of Wolf 359, the Doctor manages to connect the name to Bad Wolf.
- Art Shift: When the story flashes back to the Fourth Doctor meeting Captain Kirk and crew, the artwork shifts away from J.K. Woodward's painted/photorealistic artwork (for the TNG scenes), to the Sharp Brothers' poppy Sixties look (for the TOS scenes).
- The Assimilator: Both the Borg and the Cybermen, as per usual. Now working in tandem.
- Backstory Invader: The merging of the two universes creates some alterations to the past, most notably the Fourth Doctor having met up with the TOS crew in the past, which Eleven insists he has no memory of in the "present"note , but also does remember it at the same time.
- Bad Future: The Doctor uses the TARDIS to show Picard one in which the Cybermen succeed in assimilating the entire universe, in order to fully drive home the severity of the situation and persuade him to accept the Borg's help in stopping them.
- Bigger on the Inside:
- No points for guessing what object elicits this observation from Captain Picard.
- The TARDIS again elicits this reaction in Issue #7 when a small Away Team board, except for Data, who is more intrigued than confused.
- Blatant Lies: Amy accuses the Doctor of this after he tells Picard and the Enterprise crew that crossing their own timeline to visit the Battle of Wolf 359 is a huge mistake.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: The series kicks off with a Cyberman using the Borg phrase "Resistance is futile.", though it was the Cybermen who
said that first. - Casual Danger Dialogue: The Doctor is in top form in Issue 1, as he discusses the potential for various injuries while on a chariot.
- Character Catchphrase: An oldie but goodie shows up in the third issue, when the Fourth Doctor asks "Would you like a jelly baby?" Spock is greatly intrigued.
- Chekhov's Gun: Or Chekhov's Planet in this case - Naia VII.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The trip forward in time the Doctor shows Picard in the Bad Future shows Vulcan, the Klingon capital (including Cybermen with Bat'leths), converted Judoon and Raxacoricofallapatorians.
- Continuity Nod: Several for each series.
- Issue 5 has Picard recount the events of "The Best of Both Worlds", Parts 1 and 2.
- Issue 6 recalls "Bad Wolf".
- Issue 6 also has Amy reference the events of "Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol" when calling the Doctor out on Blatant Lies.
- Issue 6 also has the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive at the Battle of Wolf 359, where they encounter Locutus.
- Rory mentions he was a plastic Roman at one point. And being dead.
- Cool Ship:
- The TARDIS and the Enterprise-D, natch. Issue 2 even has the Doctor complimenting the design of the Enterprise's bridge.The Doctor: Lines. I like the lines.
- Though the Doctor does note in issue 7 that while the Enterprise is a fine ship, he'd rather have his TARDIS under his feet in a crisis.
- The TARDIS and the Enterprise-D, natch. Issue 2 even has the Doctor complimenting the design of the Enterprise's bridge.
- Distress Call: The Enterprise receives one while Picard is talking with the Doctor, regarding the attack on Delta IV. Garbled and incomplete, they don't learn who is responsible until they arrive.
- Enemy Civil War: As of issue 4, the Borg and the Cybermen are now warring amongst each other, with the Federation seriously considering the option of simply sitting back and allowing their most hated enemy to be wiped out, in spite of the Doctor's warning that the Cybermen are emphatically not their friends.
- Enemy Mine: In the face of total Cybermen domination, the Doctor makes it clear that the only way to survive is for he and the Enterprise crew to temporarily ally themselves with the Borg - a decision that Picard is obviously not happy with, given the torture he previously endured at the Borg's hands.
- Evil Overlooker: The Cyber-Borg Controller appears as one on the cover
of the final issue. - The Farmer and the Viper:
- More of a case of the Viper and the Viper, seeing as both the Borg and the Cybermen team up, knowing fully well that the other would try to assert dominance over the alliance at one point. The Cybermen were just better at it.
- When the Cybermen are defeated, the Borg try to turn on the heroes almost instantly. Everybody saw it coming, and they were prepared.
- Fate Worse than Death: Assimilation and Cyber-conversion.
- Flashback: The Doctor has one in the third issue, to his days as the Fourth Doctor, meeting Captain James T. Kirk and crew. Somewhat subverted in that the Doctor says that he also remembers that incident NOT happening.
- Fish People: The Dai-ai of Naia VII, although Counselor Troi NEVER used the term "fish people".
- Gibbering Genius: The Doctor, as usual, to the point that Worf asks him to please stop talking.
- Hive Mind: The Borg and the Cybermen, per usual. How combined those hives are has yet to be seen, though so far we've seen a Cyber Controller outfitted with Borg technology. Not very, as it turns out. Not only do the Cybermen turn on the Borg and almost destroy them but that was their intention all along.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Eventually, the Borg.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Picard attempts to invoke this trope and let the Cyberman and the Borg wipe each other out, content to rid the galaxy of the scourge of the latter. The Doctor has to show him that doing so causes the Cyberman to not only win, but take over the entire Federation in the process, leading Picard to back off.
- Mythology Gag:
- When the TARDIS crew explores San Francisco, they come across Tom's Bakery on 4th Street. Tom Baker, of course, played the Fourth Doctor.
- As with Star Trek: Voyager, the Federation is forced into an alliance with the Borg to defeat a greater evil, knowing full well they'll be betrayed when it's all said and done, and are prepared when said betrayal inevitably happens.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While there wasn't a lot he could do about it, the Borg's experience with the Doctor leads to them determining to master time travel, likely leading to the events of Star Trek: First Contact.
- No-Sell: Borg Assimilation doesn't work on Cybermen. Conversely Cyber conversion seems to work fine on the Borg. This could be an example of Fridge Brilliance — Borg assimilation involves injecting nanobots into the victim, which start "Borgulating" them from the inside out. Cybermen contain little-to-no remaining organic tissue, and so cannot be "Borgulated".
- Oh, Crap!:
- The Doctor and Picard have a simultaneous moment of this when they spot the Cybermen/Borg ships in orbit over Delta IV.
- The Doctor has another moment when he is spotted by Locutus at the end of issue 6.
- Orcus on His Throne: The Cyber-Controller.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Doctor demonstrates this ability in the second issue, but with a variation: he states he actually feels his memories changing, and says he didn't know what a Klingon was until he laid eyes on Lt. Worf. Later on, after a flashback to his Fourth Doctor days and a meeting with the TOS crew that he knows never really happened, he notes that if his memories are changing, then they're in even worse trouble than he initially thought. Because of all this, Picard takes him to meet another time-sensitive alien with Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Guinan. See also Sequel Hook.
- Save the Villain: In order to defeat the Cybermen, the Borg collective must be restored.
- Sequel Hook: The Borg remember everything that happened, and plan to master Time Travel. This works great whether there's a sequel or not — if there isn't, then this story helps to set up the events of Star Trek: First Contact.
- Shout-Out: Bordering on
Ascended Fanon: the Fourth Doctor meeting Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise is similar in many ways to a popular crossover fan fiction, The Doctor and the Enterprise, wherein the same scenario occurs. - Single-Biome Planet: Naia VII seems to be an ocean world.
- Teleportation: The Doctor is amazed at the transporters. (Probably unlike the Transmats, they can teleport more than three people at the same time.)
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: Issue 1 starts out with the Borg/Cybermen invasion of Delta IV, followed by the Doctor, Amy, and Rory capturing a fugitive alien in ancient Egypt before landing on the Enterprise's Holodeck during a Dixon Hill program.
- What Have I Become?: Inverted. Data explains at the beginning of Issue 2 to Geordi that this is the reason he doesn't upgrade his hardware, as he would wonder, over time, how much of him was left in a reinvented self.
- This also, basically, sets up the issue with the Cybermen...AND the Borg. As they both did the same, and the answer is 'not much'.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Riker has this reaction to the Doctor after he encounters an old friend of his who was assimilated by the Borg.
