Commentary: ‘Rick And Morty’ Has A Different Kind Of Borg
by Frank Martin
As a parody of classic science fiction tropes and cliches, Rick and Morty has touched upon an absurd amount of franchises, Star Trek being one of them. Within the Star Trek universe, the Borg is considered an incredibly iconic villain. So it’s no surprise that Rick and Morty would try to put their own spin on the concept. However, the show goes above and beyond by not using any of the classic Borg elements. There’s no cube spaceship or assimilated technology. Instead, Rick and Morty creates what could be considered an original concept of the Borg. But still references the inspiration by naming it the Collective, which is how the Borg refers to its hive mind.
The villain appears in the season nine premiere as Rick (Ian Cardoni) teams up with Evil Morty (Harry Belden) to stop the Collective, which is essentially a cosmic wave that absorbs everything it touches. Any living thing that touches the wave becomes a Collective drone while all structures are converted to be part of the Collectives infrastructure. Much to Morty’s chagrin, Rick and Evil Morty work together to stop the Collective by tricking it into absorbing a compression algorithm that causes it to absorb itself forever.
The basis for the Collective is basically the same as the Borg, which seeks to assimilate strong technologies to make improve itself. By contrast, the Collective absorbs other worlds, essentially making it a part of the Collective as it grows. The two concepts are similar in ideology but completely different in terms of execution. The Collective in Rick and Morty has its own art style, design, and tactics that make it an original creation, which shows the strength of Rick and Morty’s storytelling. It’s able to pay homage and parody classic science fiction while still standing on its own.
Rick and Morty is now streaming on HBO Max.