Ironically enough, had Roddenberry approved of the idea of linking “Time Squared” and “Q Who” in this manner, it would have been an echo of the show’s other big Borg reveal. In the season 1 finale of TNG (“The Neutral Zone”), we learn that Federation and Romulan outposts have been attacked by some kind of unknown force.

Maurice Hurley wanted this to set up the introduction of the Borg in season 2; the 1988 writer’s strike delayed these plans, though the Borg attack on Jouret IV in “The Best of Both Worlds” belatedly confirms that the Romulans were behind those earlier attacks on outposts along the Neutral Zone.