Writing to fans over at TrekBBS, Sussman says he was very cognizant of continuity concerns when penning the script.

"I consider myself something of a 'continuity hound'," Sussman writes. "While I admit the show isn't always airtight in this regard, we do try our best, and with 'Regeneration,' I paid very close attention to these issues. As a fan, nothing takes me out of an episode faster than an obvious contradiction with what's been established previously."

Sussman says that the stickling point for many preemptive reviewers--that STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION firmly established that the Federation's first encounter with the Borg was in the episode "Q Who?"--is incorrect.

"The Enterprise-D's encounter in J-25 was NOT the Federation's initial contact with the Borg," he says. "It's made quite clear in 'Q, Who' that the Borg wiped out several Federation and Romulan outposts along the Neutral Zone in the TNG season one finale (appropriately titled 'The Neutral Zone'). This fact seems to have been generally ignored in future episodes, but it is definitively established in 'Q Who?'"

Sussman goes on to cite VOYAGER's "Dark Frontier," which posited that the Borg had visited Federation territory long before the events of "Q Who?" He says "Regeneration" seeks to offer an explanation for these seemingly contradictory facts.

"What made them interested in our part of the galaxy? Did the Collective have some kind of 'inside information' about Earth or the Federation? Without giving too much away, I can safely say that 'Regeneration' will present one POSSIBLE answer."

He also responds to concern over a plot point revealed in the SFX Magazine plot synopsis recently (story): that 'Doctor Phlox' may develop an "immunity" to Borg nanoprobes. To this Sussman says simply:

"Phlox is definitely not 'immune' to Borg nanotechnology."

You can read more of Sussman's complete post here.