I started off worried, but I finished very fulfilled. Here is a look at “Regeneration,” the May 7 episode of ENTERPRISE. When I first saw the preview for “Regeneration” I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to feel about it. I love the Borg and am becoming more and more of an ENTERPRISE fan, but I’ve always thought one of the drawbacks of the show is the fact that it is a prequel series.

Having an entire galaxy of alien species already laid out in intricate detail can be a source of strength, but it is also a limitation. The show often seems hesitant to spend too much time on an alien species that we have never seen before, less we would be left wondering why they were no longer around in Kirk’s day. So ENTERPRISE instead spends a lot of time showing us how we, the human race, first met and formed bonds with all our alien friends and how we first got in fights with our alien enemies. Sometimes I am left feeling a bit like this prevents ENTERPRISE from really doing new and original things with the series, but that is not what was most bothering me about the idea of this last episode “Regeneration.” This last episode was about a first human encounter with the Borg.

I was a little offset by the preview as I thought I know how humans first encountered the Borg; it was Q’s fault in the NG episode “Q Who?” “Regeneration” quickly set me more at ease when I realized what the explanation was; these Borg had been left over from the Borg who journeyed back to 2063 to try and stop Zefram Cochrane’s flight of the Phoenix (Star Trek: First Contact).

The Borg had been frozen in the arctic when a few unlucky scientists decide to thaw them out. The Borg do what is in their nature to do, they assimilate the scientists, modify a spacecraft with their technology, and start making a beeline back to the Delta Quadrant and Borg controlled space so they can let the rest of the collective know where Earth is and how many potential drones are wandering around on our little blue rock.

Enterprise gets sent to intercept the makeshift Borg craft and to rescue any of the kidnapped humans (we all know how much luck they’re going to have with that). Our Captain Archer actually recalls a story that a Zefram Cochrane once told during a speech when he alluded to this menacing race of cyborg aliens set on enslaving Earth so Archer and Enterprise are ready for a fight. To shorten the description, when the Enterprise encounters the Borg things don’t start off well: Dr. Phlox is in infected with Borg nanites, a couple of Borg are loose on the ship messing with the engines, and the Borg quickly adapt to Lt. Reed’s phaser fire.

The Borg manage to maneuver the Enterprise into a trap. They sabotage the ship and leave it dead in the water to be boarded. Capt. Archer and Lt. Reed beam over to the Borg vessel, kill a bunch of Borg with modified phasers and set some charges to blow before they beam safely back to Enterprise. Since they are only facing a few Borg flying around on an only slightly modified vessel Archer and the Enterprise crew are able to destroy the Borg ship and make an escape. Phlox manages to radiate the nanites out of his system, but he remembers that haunting Borg collective communication that echoed in his head. The Borg have sent a signal to the Delta Quadrant indicating exactly where earth is, the good thing is it will take a couple hundred years for the message to get there.

I, even with my initial reservations, thoroughly enjoyed this episode of ENTERPRISE. I thought the writers might have been reaching when I first heard the idea of incorporating the Borg into this series. However, as long as this is the only time we see the Borg during this series than I am very happy with their guest appearance. ENTERPRISE showed some real invention here. “Regeneration” was an intelligent exploration of a timeline altered by the events of “Star Trek: First Contact.”

I am left with renewed hope that the writers can really make this show work as much more than a novelty and for more than just a couple of seasons. The previous episode “Cogenitor,” directed by none other than Geordi La Forge (a.k.a. LeVar “Reading Rainbow” Burton), was extremely contemplative and explored some very complex concepts. ENTERPRISE seems to be really finding itself as the second season winds down. ENTERPRISE has been doing a little better in the ratings lately and I look forward to a promising third season, but first get ready to hold on to your seats. This Wednesday promises back-to-back, all new ENTERPRISE episodes. Most promising, the preview reveals that T’Pol will be thrown into Vulcan sexual heat. Now that sounds like another great episode to me.