Let’s talk about Star Trek: First Contact, aka the movie where Captain Picard decides he’s done playing space diplomat and goes full Rambo on a hive mind. Also featuring: Data discovering skin, the Borg being extra, and a time travel plot that boldly goes where logic fears to tread.
It’s a fan favorite, no doubt. But buried beneath the awesome score and cybernetic sass is a galaxy-class gaffe that deserves its own holodeck program: the Great Borg Population Blunder.
“Billions” of Borg? In 2063? Sure, Jan.
So here’s the situation: the Borg travel back in time to the year 2063 to stop humanity from making first contact with the Vulcans. A pretty evil plan, sure. But then we get this bombshell:
The Enterprise-E’s crew checks the altered timeline and announces that Earth has been fully assimilated by the Borg.
Not only that—it’s now inhabited by billions of drones.
Billions. With a “B”.
But wait… in 2063, there weren’t even a billion humans alive.
The Population Problem, a.k.a. “We Did the Math, Jean-Luc”
According to Star Trek canon (and every timeline ever discussed in Enterprise, DS9, and multiple novels), World War III ended shortly before 2063 with a delightful combo of nuclear firestorms, global collapse, and probably the world’s worst Yelp reviews.
By all accounts, Earth’s population post-WWIII was less than one billion—possibly even closer to 300–500 million, depending on how spicy the canon source is. So unless people were hiding very well, we’re talking about a limited pool of folks to turn into skin-tight PVC-wearing cyborgs.
You can’t get “billions” of anything from a few hundred million without some serious Borg magic—or maybe a replicator that spits out drones like Pez.
Borg Reproduction: Wait, They Can DO That?
Let’s pause and appreciate that Star Trek has never once properly explained how Borg reproduce. Are they grown in creepy little drawers like USB sticks? Do nanoprobes have an OnlyFans we don’t know about? Is there a Borg stork that drops off baby drones in tiny cubes?
Sure, we’ve seen Borg “maturation chambers” and creepy techno-cribs, but the mechanics are vague at best. One could argue they just build more from assimilated tech and meat—but to reach billions within a few years of 2063? Even with a great dental plan, that’s a stretch. Even the Queen can’t multitask that fast.
How Did We Get Here? (Spoiler: We Didn’t.)
- Scriptwriter Oversight: Someone forgot the post-apocalyptic timeline and just went with “billions” because it sounded scary. It’s the 90s. Everyone was scared of the internet and denim jackets.
- Borg Math: Look, maybe one Borg drone = 8.2 humans in the Collective’s accounting system. They’re a hive mind, not an accountant.
- Rapid Assimilation + 3D Printing: Maybe the Borg landed and started printing new drones out of abandoned toaster ovens and leftover Twinkies.
- The Animals Got Got: Cats, cows, raccoons—assimilated. Still wouldn’t add up, but it would explain some of those weird drone noises.
Let’s Be Honest…
This is less a logic error and more a glorious WTF moment that perfectly encapsulates why fans love Star Trek. It’s smart, it’s bold, it’s visionary—and sometimes it trips over its own phaser.
But hey, we’ll forgive the franchise. After all, this is the same universe where whales save the world, Spock has a brother no one remembers, and Worf shows up to every battle even when his ship’s 12 sectors away.
Final Thoughts
So yes: Star Trek: First Contact is amazing. But if you ever find yourself watching it again, just remember that the billions of Borg on Earth in 2063 are about as plausible as a tribble working IT support.
Unless they’re counting nanoprobes. Then, yeah… maybe billions.
#StarTrekFirstContact #BorgFails #PopulationMathIsHard #SciFiGaffes #PostWW3Problems #BillionsMyAss #StarTrekHumor #TimeTravelOopsies #ContinuityErrorTreksAgain #FederationFacepalm #BorgReproductionMystery