Now that all live-action Star Trek has been released on DVD, Paramount Home Entertainment's latest releases focus on packages of themed episodes, with the Borg being being the first in a series of four box sets coming out in 2006. (The others are "Time Travel," "Q," and "Klingon.")

The Borg, by entertainment standards, had quite a run as the ultimate TV villain. Their opening salvo in TNG's "Q Who?" remains wonderful sci-fi to this day. And the interjection of Borg history into the Trek timeline via the Enterprise episode "Regeneration" didn't exactly tarnish their reputation. In the seminal third season climax ("The Best of Both Worlds, Part I") of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Borg reached an apex of sorts when they captured Picard and turned him into their greatest weapon. That is, if everything went according to plan. And it would have too, if it weren't for those pesky Starfleet humans!

Later episodes, notably "I, Borg," "Descent," "Drone" and "Dark Frontier" became more character studies than out-'n'- out thrillers, with the "Unimatrix Zero" saga making a bold attempt to flesh out our understanding of where the Borg go when they regenerate.

Ahh, the Borg. Could we ever really get enough of them? Well, by the time of Star Trek: Voyager's frustrating "Endgame," some of us were certainly ready to throw up our hands and shout "enough"! But even this episode remains watchable, if mainly for the special effects and the fact that it is Voyager's swan song.

Now you have the Borg at your fingertips to watch the entire saga (minus "First Contact") and marvel once again at this awesome, villainous collective.

[Tim]