Alice Krige, the original Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact, reveals what the villain saw in Data and the seeds of their twisted attraction.
Summary
- The Borg Queen targeted Data in Star Trek: First Contact by using human sexuality to manipulate him.
- Data’s desire to be human was his Achilles heel and made him vulnerable to the Borg Queen’s seduction.
- Despite her initial intentions, the Borg Queen became fascinated by Data and let her guard down, ultimately leading to her downfall.
Alice Krige, Star Trek’s original Borg Queen actor, reveals how the Queen seduced Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) in Star Trek: First Contact. The Borg Queen made her unforgettable debut in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s hit 1996 feature film, and she would go on to become one of the greatest villains in Star Trek history. But while Borg drones ruthlessly assimilated the crew of the USS Enterprise-E in Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen herself resorted to seduction to bend Data to her will.
In the Star Trek oral history “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years” by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Alice Krige talks about how and why the Borg Queen targeted Data in Star Trek: First Contact by giving the android “a taste of human sexuality.” This backs up director Jonathan Frakes’ previous confirmation that Data and the Borg Queen had sex. Read Krige’s quote below:
Really what the Queen meets in Data is an intelligence as formidable as her own. She’s fascinated by it and she knows that Data’s Achilles heel is his desire to be human. I guess she kind of reels him in with a taste of human sexuality, which is kind of compelling. But she gets hoisted on her own petard because she kind of gets fascinated by him. And lets down her guard in the process.
Star Trek: First Contact Ending & Picard Impact Explained
Star Trek: First Contact is not only one of the most beloved big screen entries in the franchise, it also plays a pivotal role in Star Trek: Picard.
The Borg Queen found new targets of interest.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) asserted in Star Trek: First Contact that the Borg assimilated him and turned him into Locutus in Star Trek: The Next Generation because the Borg Queen desired “a counterpart.” Indeed, this was the Queen’s intention by turning her ‘affections’ toward Data, although Alice Krige’s comments indicate the Queen was also charmed, in her way, by the android. However, after Data ‘betrayed’ her by revealing he never turned and was loyal to Picard all along, the Queen’s interest in seducing either Picard or Data ended after Star Trek: First Contact.
Multiple versions of the Borg Queen have appeared in Star Trek, played by Alice Krige, Susanna Thompson, Annie Wersching, Allison Pill, and Jane Edwina Seymour.
After Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson) made multiple appearances in Star Trek: Voyager, where Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) held her fascination. The Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) returned in an alternate reality where Dr. Agnes Jurati (Allison Pill) became her new target; the result of Agnes’ assimilation was a more benevolent hybrid Borg Queen in Star Trek: Picard season 2. The original, dying Borg Queen returned in Star Trek: Picard season 3 with plans to evolve her species by seducing Jean-Luc Picard’s son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), but she was foiled for the last time by Admiral Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. But none of the Borg Queen’s later interests held quite the sexual spark she had for Data in Star Trek: First Contact.
